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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27512866">Crystal Heart - The Magic of the Earth</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/yugirlwithdragons/pseuds/yugirlwithdragons'>yugirlwithdragons</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure, F/M, Faithshipping - Freeform, Fantasy, Gen, Knight Yusei, Magic, Medieval AU, Scoopshipping, alternative universe, some language here and there, witch aki, yugirl-with-dragons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-08 04:20:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>59,601</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27512866</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/yugirlwithdragons/pseuds/yugirlwithdragons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The reign of Domino dramatically changed over the course of a decade, and ever since the war ended, dragons became more accepting of humans, and the two species coexisted in peace. Magic permeates the world shared by men, magicians, witches, and magical creatures; it is a precious nectar produced by any magical being, as well as by the earth itself. Dragons are the greatest known source. However, greedy men eventually discovered that magic was removable. There were two options: collect small amounts of it from the earth, or steal it from living creatures, usually killing them. This was illegal in the king's lands, but such a small obstacle didn’t stop the few humans interested in obtaining magic. However, the real problem wasn’t just the vile crime. The great tragedy was that the legendary Book of Dragons had disappeared, and no one noticed...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fudou Yuusei/Izayoi Aki, Jack Atlas/Carly Nagisa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The knight, the witch, and the dragon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"<em><strong>An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered." ― G.K. Chesterton</strong></em></p>
<p>Silence was settled all throughout New Domino City that night, except for the occasional wind that dared to breach it, whistling as it passed through black, gnarled trees. The air hung dense, accompanied by a darkness that spread over the earth, thick as oil, and a starless sky the shade of blood.</p>
<p>Aki felt the pressure of the environment as she stood at the city gates. It wasn't just the fact that they were unattended that was strange, it was also that she was even there. She didn't belong there, not in this place. <em>No</em> witch did.</p>
<p>But something had drawn her here. Some-<em>one</em>. A voice calling out to her, by name, from within the city walls. So compelling. It reached her through the stale fog over miles of distance separating her from the king's city. She had to come.</p>
<p>She couldn't say why, she just knew.</p>
<p>The gates opened, silently folding inward on their own with the absence of soldiers. Aki stepped through, moving slowly, the air so heavy it felt like walking through water. Even for the time of night, the city felt barren. As Aki drifted forward, she only passed a few people—though their features were blurred and desaturated into gray—and to her bare feet the street felt cold.</p>
<p>"Aki . . . Aki . . . help me . . ."</p>
<p>The voice again, soft and wispy, a susurrus of pain and desperation.</p>
<p>"Aki . . ."</p>
<p>It kept calling. She heard it from all around her, brushing against her ear as if the speaker's lips were close. She tried to walk faster, but for some reason her legs wouldn't do as she willed. She bobbed down the street with each step, trying to push her legs harder, but she might as well have been running on the ocean floor.</p>
<p>"Aki . . . hurry . . ."</p>
<p>She was trying, but she couldn't find her own voice to reply, to say she was coming, to ask where the speaker was, to ask <em>who</em> the speaker was.</p>
<p>She turned the corner and found herself entering a very long road, and another figure in the middle. It was a young man, close to her own age, down on his hands and knees, one arm wrapped hard against his torso, the ground beneath him growing a pool of blood. His hair was dark and short, but his bangs still managed to hide his eyes.</p>
<p>Aki watched as his blood kept sliding around his arm and dripping into the stain below, wondering how he could make no noise while clearly in pain. He just let his injury cry for him while his head hung.</p>
<p>She might be able to heal him, she realized. When she tried to call out to him, nothing came out. She couldn't even tell if she was breathing. She tried to run, but every step was sluggish and only seemed to take her backward, as if the road were stretching even longer under her feet.</p>
<p>She reached out an arm to try to reach him, but measuring him against her hand only made it easier to tell that he was getting smaller.</p>
<p>"Aki . . . save us . . . save us all . . ."</p>
<p>Her stomach knotted. <em>No</em>, she thought, but couldn't say. <em>Let me save you first!</em></p>
<p>Whoever 'us' was would have to wait, this boy was dying before her eyes. If only she could reach him!</p>
<p>With a roar that made her stumble to a halt, a massive and deformed dragon emerged from black clouds above her and began a targeted descent toward the boy, its eyes bright as fire, its jaw opening to reveal a black tongue and large teeth.</p>
<p>Aki couldn't move. Her legs were no longer sluggish, they were paralyzed against her will. She looked from the dragon to the boy and back to the dragon. The boy seemed completely unaware of the incoming threat, and she still couldn't speak—or scream. She doubted the boy could run in his condition, but she wanted him to. She wanted him to run and escape <em>so badly</em>.</p>
<p>The dragon's mouth began to grow an orange light that shone behind its teeth while its neck expanded to accommodate the fire building inside. And then with wide eyes, Aki watched the blaze project from the dragon's mouth, billow as it came closer to the earth until it devoured the boy in a blinding conflagration that sent a wave of heat and pressure out as a dome, knocking Aki onto her back to hit her head—</p>
<p>—on the floor of her bedroom.</p>
<p>"Ow!"</p>
<p>She pressed her hands against her throbbing skull as she slowly realized where she was. Her sheets were all wound around her legs like snakes trying to constrict her, and she had to struggle to free herself. As she did, her heart was still pounding, making her breath short and her blood spicy with adrenaline. By the time her legs were untangled, she could look to the window and realize it was just barely dawn.</p>
<p>She wasn't going to try to go back to sleep. She was too awake.</p>
<p>So instead to got herself ready for the morning while the nightmare reverberated through her body. And she knew—she could feel it in her witch's intuition—that it wasn't a simple dream. It <em>meant</em> something. It had <em>purpose</em>.</p>
<p>What that meaning or purpose was, she was much less sure.</p>
<p>Was there a literal beast coming to destroy the city? Who was the boy calling to her? Was he real or representative of something?</p>
<p>After lighting a candle to illuminate her room, she could see that she had to remake her whole bed since her sheets, blankets, and pillows were scattered about. So that was her first task. Soon enough she had flattened the top blanket into a neat fold and fluffed her pillows to stand up at the head. But the mundane motions weren't enough to distract her from her thoughts.</p>
<p>So she tried her garden.</p>
<p>She blew out her candle first and stepped into the lush grass with her bare feet, feeling the cool dew squish between her toes. She was relieved to see the sky was dark blue and glittering with stars, but then with curiosity she walked over to the one spot that gave her a view through an opening in the surrounding trees of the castle. In the dark, she could make out its murky form and the windows glowing from candles and firelights burning inside the rooms. Just seeing it made her heart squeeze.</p>
<p>Bad memories in that city.</p>
<p>Bad, bad memories.</p>
<p>This forest breathed with her and let her be out in the open without the need for caution. She didn't have to hide her red hair or her magic among the trees and flowers because she was one of them, magic flowing in her as it did through their roots.</p>
<p>Humans didn't trust magic, not these days. Not since the war. It was better for everyone that she stay here.</p>
<p>But . . .</p>
<p>
  <em>"Aki . . ."</em>
</p>
<p>That dream . . .</p>
<p>
  <em>". . . save us . . ."</em>
</p>
<p>She couldn't shake it from her mind, nor the sense of foreboding that clung to her shoulders. She looked to the castle again and worked her jaw. Was something going to happen there?</p>
<p>She wanted to argue that it didn't really concern her. She didn't belong on the city, and the people didn't want her there. But there was no one to argue with and no one to confirm for her that it was better to just stay put and not let some cryptic dream pressure her into doing anything unreasonable like stepping outside the safety of her forest.</p>
<p>So she chewed her lip as she wavered, shifting her weight from one foot to another and moaning indecisively. Surely there couldn't be an apocalyptic event <em>today</em>. And yet the castle felt magnetic, its force pulling at her whenever she looked away. Even if she could resist it for now, she knew that <em>eventually</em>, she would succumb. And if that was the case, she should just go now and get it over with—hopefully returning quickly and without incident.</p>
<p>She raised her eyes to the purpling sky, toward the disappearing stars, toward the clouds that came with the daybreak, breathing deeply. She closed her eyes on the exhale and immersed herself in the vibrations of magic she felt webbing through the earth all around her, extending her senses into the smallest flower bud and the oldest trees. Among this web, she was part of the enormous living organism that humans only knew as the world. To her though, it was alive, spreading its energy all around and even into her.</p>
<p>She tried to draw on it for courage too. She was going. In her mind it seemed unnecessary and foolish, but her body was responding to some inexplicable need. She couldn't not go.</p>
<p>Oh, the ways of magic were mysterious indeed.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Getting through the forest had been a simple matter. She was used to navigating her way as smooth and light as a bird. It was the wide, open space that made her nervous. She could be <em>seen </em>there.</p>
<p>But she was at least wearing her cloak, the hood up to hide her vivid hair.</p>
<p>She walked along the dirt roads into the fields that led to the city gates, passing by the early risers who farmed the land. The gate was already open to allow the passage of goods and people, and the guards stood to inspect those they deemed suspicious and monitor the rest.</p>
<p>They noted Aki's arrival with a disinterested glance, one of them even holding up a hand to cover his yawn. As she stepped inside, her lungs were frozen and her body tense. But no one stopped her. No one even looked at her. So she had made it.</p>
<p>But then, now what?</p>
<p>Aside from finding a bleeding boy in the road, she didn't know what she was supposed to look for. So she just wandered around looking for some kind of sign—if there was one to find—hoping it would be obvious.</p>
<p>Here and there she saw open shops, circulating carts, mothers fetching water from the well or milk for their children. She smelled bread baking, but it wasn't enough to cover the distinct smell of livestock that was permanently stamped even into the grout of the stone roads.</p>
<p>She avoided looking at people's faces, even when she was greeted directly. She prayed in her head for them to just ignore her. If only she knew a magic that could do it for her . . .</p>
<p>After an hour or so of aimless wandering, she began to feel even more foolish. Really, what <em>was</em> she looking for? Had she really come here based on a dream? The city didn't look anything like it had: no red sky, no heavy atmosphere, no black clouds. She wanted to hit her head, but she settled for closing her eyes and rubbing her temples.</p>
<p><em>This is ridiculous</em>, she thought. <em>What the hell am I doing here?</em> She had let a dream and a castle bully her into leaving home. Embarrassing. She groaned.</p>
<p><em>That's enough</em>, she decided, ready to leave.</p>
<p>And she was really going to. Really. But it gradually occurred to her, standing there with her eyes closed, that she <em>felt</em> something. And the more she tried to get a read on it, the further out she had to reach. And the something just kept going, vibrating through the whole city.</p>
<p>Magic.</p>
<p><em>Tons</em> of magic. Strong magic. <em>Pure</em> magic. The more she focused on it, the more she felt its resonance against her senses. And the more disturbed she became, because an amount of magic this big had to have a source that was <em>noticeable</em>. But when she opened her eyes and looked around her, there was nothing. Just humans and their stone walls and streets. It didn't make sense.</p>
<p>Well now she was curious—and not in a good way. She continued her wandering, anxiously looking around for something that could produce such energy. And she couldn't imagine what it must be like to be human, unable to feel what she felt, completely unaware of the vibrant life all around them. They might as well be blind.</p>
<p>She followed a lane all the way to an open square full of trading stalls and carts, and there she felt an immediate certainty: the heart of this magic pulse was hidden inside a collection of sealed crates stacked in the back of a cart parked at the mouth of an alley. Now that she had her eyes on them, she could see a glow coming from within—through her second sight for magic that overlayed the physical world.</p>
<p>One particular merchant began to holler from his stall, capturing the attention of people in the square. Taking that opportunity, Aki glided over to the cart and slipped out of sight behind another stack of crates in the alley. Whatever other reason might have brought her here, she couldn't ignore this. So much magic in the hands of humans was not good. Just as humans didn't trust witches, who had their <em>own </em>magic to use, witches didn't trust humans to do anything good with stolen magic.</p>
<p>They had to <em>steal</em> it, after all. Or buy it from whoever stole it, which wasn't any better.</p>
<p>Just as she had snuck into place, a man came into the alley from around the corner. He had a thick scar running down from his forehead, across the bridge of his crooked nose, and the length of his cheek. His lips on that side of his face were scarred into a perpetual frown as well. He bent his knees and with effort, hefted the last two crates by the wheel into the cart with the rest. Then he pat his thighs with his gloved hands, bent his neck from side to side to crack his bones, and then walked around to the front of the cart.</p>
<p>Aki whispered a sigh of relief that he didn't come deeper into the alley to the crates she was hiding behind. She didn't feel magic from these anyway, though. Instead she could smell the earthy flavor of harvested wheat inside.</p>
<p>The man was just about to lift the handles of his cart and get moving, but Aki made a snap decision. As she peaked around the side of the crate with one eye, she wiggled her fingers gently in the air until a sturdy root pushed its way up through the grout between the stones and snaked its way around one of the back wheels, anchoring it firmly to the ground.</p>
<p>The man was confused when the cart didn't move. He clearly thought he was strong enough to push a cart loaded with all those heavy crates, so he tried again, straining against the handlebar. But the root pulled to keep the wheel in place. Taking this as a threat to his pride, the man got lost in the competition between himself and the cart. He took a deep, angry breath, and then pushed with all his might.</p>
<p>And with that much pressure, the cart did move, but not as he wanted. Instead of rolling forward, it swung in an arc with the anchored wheel as the center point, and it swung too quickly for him to correct it, so the highest crate launched off the top of the stack and into the square. It smashed onto the ground two feet from the cart where it broke open, and its contents spilled out.</p>
<p>Aki, like everyone else, looked to see what it was. She crept out to the mouth of the alley, expecting that the man would be too occupied by his lost goods to notice her. And she could <em>feel</em> the color drain from her face.</p>
<p>A wave of large, shiny dragon scales had spread around the broken crate, iridescent in the morning light. Such a pretty color for such ugly contraband.</p>
<p>Hunting dragons had been forbidden in Domino, as had trading their body parts, for at least a decade—since the end of the war that had almost destroyed the whole kingdom. Everyone knew that. But of course, the legality wasn't the main issue. To get that many scales, a dragon had to be <em>killed</em>.</p>
<p>Aki couldn't help seeing herself—and her magic—in those scales. It made her stomach churn. Of course, dragons' magic was of a quality far greater than that of a witch, but still, in moments like these, Aki felt more akin to dragons than to humans. She began to wonder why she even felt bothered at the idea of a dragon wreaking havoc on the kingdom—didn't they deserve it? The evidence lying there in clear condemnation and her own queasiness said <em>yes</em>. And they should get what they deserve before they did anything to <em>her</em>.</p>
<p>Tears burning her eyes, Aki was ready to go. Seeing a strong, glorious creature be reduced to a pile of treasure put a sour taste in her mouth, and she hoped any human who tried to obtain magic from those scales exploded, like a tree being struck by lightning.</p>
<p>And then her stomach dropped.</p>
<p>What if . . . what if it wasn't just humans trying to obtain the magic? What if it was a witch, lusting for even more power?</p>
<p>She didn't know where that thought came from, but it made her freeze. And what made her jump out of it was a sudden hand clamping hard on her shoulder, and then a gruff voice demanded from behind, "What're you doing back here?"</p>
<hr/>
<p>"Bloody ash, Yusei, what the hell did you <em>do</em>? <em>Look </em>at this! Look at your sword! What have you been hacking at with it? A whole damn forest? And some rocks? Every time. You do this every <em>bloody</em> time! I have to resharpen this thing so much it's gonna be paper thin pretty soon! You know there's only so much I can do with this, right? I'm not a <em>miracle</em> worker here. I might as well just forge a new one at this point!"</p>
<p>Finishing his rant, the blacksmith threw a dirty cloth on the floor in a huff. Meanwhile the knight listened patiently, because when he looked at his sword resting on the table, he knew he didn't have much of a defense.</p>
<p>"Crow, you're right," he conceded. Again.</p>
<p>"Damn right I'm right," Crow huffed. "You know how much work it is to make a good sword? And I mean a <em>good sword</em>? Show some respect."</p>
<p>"I have all the respect in the world for this sword. It's the only one that can keep up with me."</p>
<p>The smith crossed his arms with a steaming frown. Knights. They were such a handful. Especially <em>this </em>one. But he dealt with it. Yusei was his long-time best friend, after all. And for all the stress he caused, Yusei was the best knight Crow knew—and he knew <em>a lot</em>. Yusei was a true believer in the knight's vow to be loyal and just, and Crow admired that.</p>
<p>It also helped that Yusei paid well.</p>
<p>"And I know you're the only one who can make a sword <em>that</em> good and reliable."</p>
<p>"Well obviously."</p>
<p>Yusei wasn't the type to flatter, so Crow accepted the recognition, but he wasn't going to let Yusei off easy. He was still ticked from the state he had put his creation in.</p>
<p>Yusei just smiled. He knew how much care Crow put into his labor, so he didn't blame him for his frustration. But Yusei also knew that every time, Crow worked the sword back into perfect shape to serve as his trusted weapon, and he felt Crow's friendship when he carried it. The artistry of the design and the heart of the artist, Yusei greatly appreciated both.</p>
<p>"So how much do you want as a down payment for that new sword?"</p>
<p>When Crow paused to think, a shout from the square erupted. "Stop that girl!" They both snapped their heads in the direction of the hysterical voice. "She's a witch! <em>A witch</em>!"</p>
<p>"Witch?" Crow repeated. The two caught sight of a small crowd chasing a young woman, the hood of her cloak fallen from her head to reveal striking red hair, while the rest of the crowd stepped backwards to put more distance between themselves and the accused.</p>
<p>"What in the—"</p>
<p>Yusei was already off, leaving Crow mid-sentence in an impulsive dash. The sudden motion startled Crow, but then he sighed, unsurprised. "Jeez, isn't it too early for this?" he muttered while pushing his back into an arch to stretch. Then he noticed that Yusei's sword was still sitting on his table, along with a leather pouch bulging with coins. Crow picked up the sword and looked up to Yusei's back as he ran. Then he shrugged. He'd be fine without it.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <em>Shit, shit, shit shit shit!</em>
</p>
<p>Aki's heart raced, not so much from the running, but from the panic.</p>
<p><em>You idiot! You stupid damn idiot! Oh I'll just come check things out, huh? Just a quick in and out, huh? It'll be </em>fine<em>, huh?</em></p>
<p>The shouting mob behind her was a sick punchline to a bad joke. How the hell was she going to get out of there now? She supposed more magic was a possibility, as a worst-case scenario, if causing even more chaos would have a worthwhile result.</p>
<p>Then she got the dark, twisted idea that maybe . . . maybe <em>she</em> was the dragon from her dream? Maybe <em>she</em> was going to use her magic to lay waste to this awful city? Maybe she had come here to fulfill that role?</p>
<p>Her head swam. Confusion and alarm made the world around her wobble as she tried to stay focused on her path forward. Her cloak was dragging on her, making it harder to go as fast as she was capable. But she kept pushing, the sound of dozens of feet pounding the stones behind her spurring her on. If they caught her, would she end up dismembered and skinned, the pieces of her boxed up into a crate too?</p>
<p><em>Damn you!</em> she cursed, her vision blurring. <em>Damn you all!</em></p>
<p>Then she stumbled. She screamed, thinking she had tripped, that her hot tears had made her not see something at her feet. But she was falling <em>backwards</em>.</p>
<p>Because someone had gotten a hold on her traitorous cloak and yanked her back. In her panic, she pulled herself loose from the cloak to escape the man's grasp, but she lost control of her footing and stumbled forward all the way to the ground. The impact shot pain from her knees and wrists through her legs and arms, so when she tried to scramble back to her feet, she collapsed.</p>
<p>And that gave the humans plenty of time to reach her.</p>
<p>Two strong hands lifted her up with firm grips on her shoulders, and then holding her up from behind, the man locked one arm around her throat, squeezing it with the crook of his elbow just enough so that she could still breathe, but not escape. Then the man she had seen with the cart appeared in front of her, his glare menacing.</p>
<p>"You think you can fuck with <em>us</em>? You think we're scared of a little witch like you? Bitch, we hunt <em>dragons</em>! You ain't nothin' to me!"</p>
<p>Aki bared her grinding teeth. She could feel her magic flowing hot inside her. Oh, she was ready now.</p>
<p><em>You think I'm nothing? I'll show you. </em>You're<em> the one who's nothing!</em></p>
<p>She was hot and getting hotter, just like the magic in the air around her as it responded to her energy. Her amber eyes started to glow beneath her furrowed brow. She breathed deep, her breath steaming through her teeth against the disfigured face before her, and she began to wave her fingers as her hands hung out of sight . . .</p>
<p>
  <em>Fwp!</em>
</p>
<p>In a blink, the man was gone. Vanished.</p>
<p>But not by magic.</p>
<p>By a flying kick crashing sideways into his jaw, sending him to the ground hard and silencing the whole crowd. The new arrival landed crouched on his feet, close to the beefy man stunned on the ground, with his back facing the two behind him.</p>
<p>Aki's furrowed brows rose, and her surprise made her fingers go still. And then he stood up straight, turning to look sideways at the other man still holding Aki, while Aki stared at him—and felt her stomach plummet.</p>
<p>It was <em>him</em>.</p>
<p><em>Him</em>!</p>
<p>The young man from her dream!</p>
<p>All the heat drained from Aki as her mouth fell open.</p>
<p>
  <em>He's real?</em>
</p>
<p>And that realization made her eyes jump upward to check the sky, but just like the living, breathing man in front of her, the sky was fine and healthy. No blood or dragons in sight.</p>
<p>"What the <em>hell</em> are you doing?" the man holding her demanded. "Didn't you hear us? She's a <em>witch</em>!"</p>
<p>"Hm, so you say," the knight replied casually before holding up a dragon scale the size of his hand. "But from where I'm standing, it looks like you're the only one who's broken the law."</p>
<p>Aki could hear the man's teeth grind and feel his muscles strain uncomfortably against her.</p>
<p>"Since I'm guessing," the knight continued, "she's not part of your little <em>illegal</em> trade ring."</p>
<p>"Hey, we've got nothing to do with that," he shouted defensively. "We just do deliveries! We don't know what's in any of the crates we get, we just carry them!"</p>
<p>"Oh, I see. Then you won't have a problem telling me who gave them to you, right?" The knight spoke calmly, but his blue eyes were cutting.</p>
<p>"That's . . . N-no," he stammered. "No way. That's private info."</p>
<p>"Well isn't that nice of you, protecting your clients."</p>
<p>"I ain't protecting <em>them</em>, I'm protecting <em>me</em>! Those people are dangerous!"</p>
<p>"Not to brag, but I'd say I'm pretty dangerous too. And I'm the one right in front of you. Listen, I'll even pretend I believe you didn't know about the scales if you give me a name." The knight's expression was set and confident, like he didn't have a fear in the world.</p>
<p>So different from when he was broken and bleeding and begging for help.</p>
<p>The square was quiet as everyone held a collective breath, waiting to see what would happen. Then a shadow grew to consume the knight from behind as the first man recovered and rose to his feet, now with a thick rod in his hands. He looked strong enough to be able to break open a man's skull with one swing, but the knight turned to face him with only a mild frown.</p>
<p>"Fuck you!" he shouted, his pride wounded even more than his bruised jaw. He twisted his arms back, holding his rod with both hands, about to land his swing to the knight's temple. But the young man was quicker and sank a low and powerful punch into the man's stomach and up into his lungs. The man gagged and gasped, dropping the rod as he doubled over breathless. It gave the knight a good opening to grab the man's head and bash his knee up into his face, sending him back down to the ground, unconscious.</p>
<p>Aki could feel the man who held her shaking, but more than that, his tension was making his grip on her throat tighten. She reached up with both hands to tug at his arm, but it didn't budge.</p>
<p>The knight glanced at her and noted her struggle, then set his hard eyes above her to her captor.</p>
<p>"You know, this isn't a good look for you," he said. "Nothing about this screams <em>innocent</em>."</p>
<p>As Aki wheezed to get in her next breath, the man dragged her back a step with him as he pulled out a knife with his free hand. When he had it pointed at her face, he hissed, "I may not be <em>innocent</em>, but I ain't <em>caught</em>. And listen up, witch," he called, tapping her cheek with the side of the blade. "If you don't wanna die, help me out of here, got it? Help me and I'll let you go. Deal?"</p>
<p>Aki leaned her head away from the blade, but he kept holding it threateningly close. She glanced to the knight, who stood frozen in place, frowning. He seemed stuck, as if . . . as if he didn't want to make a move that might get her hurt. But that had to be her imagination. No one cared about a witch's safety. She had to protect herself.</p>
<p>So she waved her fingers.</p>
<p>The knight's mind went into a flurry of calculations. What could he do? And it had to be him. Because he knew no one else would care about the girl if they believed she was a witch. Yusei still didn't know if that part was true or not, but it didn't matter. Not to him.</p>
<p>He was too far away to rush at the man and force his blade away before he cut into the girl. Maybe if he could distract him enough to give him an opening . . .</p>
<p>But then he noticed it. The roots winding their way up from under the stone road and around the man's boots—and the girl's fingers gently waving at her side.</p>
<p>So, she <em>was</em> a witch.</p>
<p>That was actually a big help.</p>
<p>He smiled and nodded to her, hoping she understood his acknowledgement, while the man shouted, "Did you fucking <em>hear me</em>? Get me <em>out </em>of here!"</p>
<p>"Die in some bloody ash!"</p>
<p>With that curse, she had the roots yank his feet forward, sending him falling onto his back with a heavy crash that racked his body. Aki went down with him, but his body cushioned the impact for her, and with his grip on her loosened, she slammed the back of her head into his nose. He gargled and then used both hands to cradle the blood gushing out, giving Aki her freedom. She quickly darted to the side and rolled onto her feet, then smirked as she summoned more roots to burst up and lock around his legs and arms and neck. He roared, and with blood oozing down to his chin, he strained against the roots, and they were still so young and thin that he broke enough of them open for him to sit up and reach for her. A blood-stained beard framed the yellow teeth of his growl, and Aki showed her teeth too as she summoned reinforcement roots to hold his legs harder.</p>
<p>And then came another reinforcement. A gloved hand grabbed the man's wrist, twisted it hard, and then a second hand pounded into the strained elbow, resulting in a howl as the man's head dropped back. And then the knight stepped over the man's legs so he could look down into his pained eyes before he hammered a well-aimed punch into his nose. There was a loud <em>crunch!</em> as it broke even more, and then the slap of his body collapsing to the ground.</p>
<p>The knight grabbed him by his hair and lifted his head to make sure he was completely knocked out as cheers and applause broke out in the surrounding audience. He let the man's head drop back down then stood up to announce, "All right, show's over, show's over. Go on now." He waved to signal for them to return to their normal day.</p>
<p>"What about the witch?" a faceless voice asked from the crowd, followed by murmurs of agreement.</p>
<p>Yusei frowned to all of them.</p>
<p>"I said, <em>show's over</em>."</p>
<p>His tone left no room for argument, so with whispers and more gossiping murmurs, the crowd dispersed, with plenty of curious glances to the witch. With Yusei watching, it didn't take long for the square to buzz with the usual activities.</p>
<p>Which made Aki marvel. She couldn't believe so many people would actually listen to him, one knight, despite the presence of a witch among them. She was frozen in place, stunned, as she looked at this knight's back.</p>
<p>Then he turned to look at her, and she went tense, pushing one foot back in preparation to either defend herself or flee.</p>
<p>"Are you ok?"</p>
<p>Aki blinked, feeling suddenly off balance.</p>
<p>"Miss?" he asked when she didn't answer.</p>
<p>She looked from side to side, just barely moving her head so as not to take her eyes too far off of him. "Me?" she asked.</p>
<p>"Yes, you. Are you ok?"</p>
<p>She stared blankly at him. "Um . . . Yeah," she said slowly, tentatively.</p>
<p>"Good, I'm glad," he said with a nod. Then he held out a hand. "Do you mind if I talk with you for a bit?"</p>
<p>She looked around the square, meeting a few eyes that were surreptitiously glancing toward her.</p>
<p>"You don't have to worry about them," the knight reassured, stepping toward her. They couldn't exactly talk privately, right there in the open, but he could at least create a kind of space just for them. "They'll leave you alone."</p>
<p>She gave him a strange look.</p>
<p>"So, can I ask you a few questions?" he asked, feeling like he was trying to coax a scared, feral cat.</p>
<p>She licked her lips, took a deep breath, and said, "Ok."</p>
<p>He nodded. "Thank you. Can you tell me what happened?"</p>
<p>"Maybe. Where do you want to start?"</p>
<p>"Well, why don't you start with what brings you here."</p>
<p>"What makes you think I'm not from here?"</p>
<p>He smiled. "I would have seen you before if you were. You stand out."</p>
<p>She looked down and saw her cloak in a rumpled pile, discarded after it had been stripped off her. She slowly picked it up and laid it over her arm. "Fair point," she conceded, combing through her hair with her fingers.</p>
<p>"So?" he prodded gently.</p>
<p>"I . . . came here looking for someone," she began. "I thought they were in trouble. But I think I was wrong. I was ready to leave when . . ." She trailed off.</p>
<p>"Do you know anything about the dragon scales?"</p>
<p>Aki frowned involuntarily. "You mean do I know anything about the people who killed the dragon they belong to?"</p>
<p>Yusei nodded with a hard expression.</p>
<p>"No. Just that they disgust me."</p>
<p>"Hm." The knight folded his arms. "You know, I've been trying to catch the ones doing this illegal <em>business</em>," he said with a bitter tone, "but they're very hard to find. If you know something, <em>anything</em> . . ."</p>
<p>She shook her head. "I don't. I keep to myself. Today was just a bad day. I shouldn't have come here." Then she eyed him warily, keeping her guard up. Even with such flattery as calling her "miss", she couldn't let herself trust him.</p>
<p>And he could tell.</p>
<p>"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, holding his hands up to show they were empty. Not that that made him not dangerous, but it was what he could think to do.</p>
<p>She looked at him with a measuring eye. "Why?"</p>
<p>He blinked. "Why would I?"</p>
<p>"Is that a euphemism for a quick, painless death?"</p>
<p>"Why would I <em>kill</em> you?"</p>
<p>"What <em>else</em> do humans do with witches?" She pointed to the scale the knight had brought with him. "Just like dragons. And I bet knights get great honors if they bring one's head to the king."</p>
<p>The knight unfolded his arms, genuinely taken aback. He was quiet for a moment as he stared her, and as she stared right back.</p>
<p>"I'm not a fan of killing," he said in a low voice. "And you haven't done anything wrong. Being a witch isn't a crime."</p>
<p>Aki assessed his expression. His gaze was deep and direct. It almost made her believe him.</p>
<p>"So you really don't know anything?"</p>
<p>She was inclined to not trust anyone, but his frank eyes were having an effect on her. She sighed and shook her head. "No. I wish I could give you something. I hate what they're doing."</p>
<p>He believed her angry grimace. He didn't need to convince her how repulsive the dragon 'harvesting' was.</p>
<p>"I see," he said softly. "Well, thank you for giving me some of your time. And for a bit of good luck."</p>
<p>"What?"</p>
<p>"With this," he said, gesturing to the unconscious man behind him. "These guys would have gotten away without any notice if you hadn't been here."</p>
<p>"Oh . . . Well," she murmured awkwardly, "thank you too . . . for helping me."</p>
<p>"That's kind of my thing," he replied with a smirk.</p>
<p>His smile completely disarmed her. No one else would smile like that at a . . .</p>
<p>"Well, I guess I'll let you go. You were leaving, right?"</p>
<p>"Uh . . . yeah."</p>
<p>"I'll make sure no one stops you."</p>
<p>". . .Thank you."</p>
<p>"Can I ask you one last thing?"</p>
<p>"Um, sure."</p>
<p>"What's your name?"</p>
<p>For a moment she was confused. Didn't he know? But then she shook her head and scoffed at herself. No, of course he wouldn't know. Nothing else had been the same, why would that one detail have matched?</p>
<p>"Aki," she replied. Then repeated herself because introductions were so foreign she felt strange doing it. "It's Aki."</p>
<p>The blue-eyed knight bowed with a hand over his heart.</p>
<p>"I'm Yusei. I wish you a safe and happy return home, Miss Aki."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Domino's palace was a masterpiece of architecture. Large, towering columns erected on a natural hill that overlooked the city almost as if to protect it, or to command it. Maybe both. It served as a symbol of the kingdom, and the kingdom itself laid out in a circle all around that magnificent castle, like a body and its heart at the center. And then around the city was a natural border, wide mountain ranges like arms embracing its child.</p>
<p>The kingdom was one, but there was a vestige of the second city that used to co-exist within the mountains. An abandoned castle stood surrounded by a wild forest that had overrun the city that was once called Aracnos. Back before the war, when its king, Rudger, was still alive. But when he died, his brother, Rex, the king of neighboring Domino, inherited his crown. And with his newly gained authority, Rex had merged Aracnos and Domino into what was now known as Neo Domino—though most people continued calling it Domino. The royal city hadn't changed, after all, just the lines on the map.</p>
<p>Inside the castle—the living castle central to Domino—a meeting was taking place.</p>
<p>"All right," a young, blond man sighed, sinking into his sumptuous chair. "So, you're asking me for official permission to leave the kingdom again to do some investigating. That about sum it up? Honestly Yusei, at this point I don't know why you even bother coming here anymore."</p>
<p>"Prince, I know I'm insistent," the knight answered, "but dragons are <em>still</em> being hunted. It's not just the injustice of that I can't tolerate, I owe it to Stardust to make it stop. These are his family that are being killed and sold off as parts. And I'll just point out that he's also at risk as long as it goes on, despite how strong he is."</p>
<p>"I know, I know," the prince sighed again, waving a hand. "It's not like I'm happy about it either. That's not what bothers me. It's that you're still so unbearably <em>formal</em>! I mean <em>bloody ash</em> Yusei! We've known each other for a <em>decade</em> now, when are you finally going to start calling me Jack?"</p>
<p>Yusei only answered him with a smirk.</p>
<p>So the prince huffed and waved a hand. "Whatever. If you care so much about it, next time you can ask the <em>king</em>."</p>
<p>"I don't think so," Yusei replied, breezily ignoring the prince's petulance. "It's more important for <em>you</em> to know about this situation, for now."</p>
<p>Jack rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, yeah, right. I'll tell the others in the army what they need to know too." He blew out a breath and changed into a more eager expression. "Ok, so did the two guys confess anything? How hard did you have to go with the interrogation?"</p>
<p>"Oh, they were quick to talk. They told me they had been promised great compensation, but their client gave them an obviously false name, so that's not much help. But they at least told me that they met him in the Black Forest. I can at least do something with that." Yusei frowned in thought. "But you know, Stardust has been getting worried lately. He's been sensing abnormal streams of magic, so something's happening. Something's <em>wrong</em>. And I've got this nagging feeling that someone might be plotting to upset the kingdom."</p>
<p>Jack considered his friend. "You think that would actually be possible?"</p>
<p>"Considering the change in magic going on and the amount of dragon scales being bought and sold, I can't rule it out. And I don't want to just wait and see. I've got to do something."</p>
<p>Jack knew Yusei. He knew that "something" meant protect the kingdom and everyone in it. And he knew that determined look in Yusei's eye, the one he saw right then. There was nothing to do but let him have his way.</p>
<p>"All right. Go do your thing, <em>knight</em>. You have permission from your prince to proceed as you see fit."</p>
<p>He said the last bit with a sneer. Jack didn't like formality forced between them, and Yusei knew it, but he felt a kind of obligation to respect the decorum of the castle.</p>
<p>And maybe he enjoyed annoying his friend, just a little.</p>
<p>Yusei smiled, gave a small bow of thanks, and began his exit. Jack rolled his eyes when Yusei's back was to him.</p>
<p>"I saw that," he said without turning.</p>
<p>Jack's response was, "<em>Good</em>."</p>
<p>Yusei kept his laugh to himself.</p>
<p>"And make sure you come back healthy so I can punch that smile off your face!"</p>
<p>Again, without turning, Yusei lifted a hand to give a backwards wave. "Yes, Your Highness."</p>
<hr/>
<p>"Hey, Yusei. Don't fall asleep on me now."</p>
<p>"I won't," he promised while scouring the forest below him. But it was getting harder to see with the sun sinking into the jagged horizon.</p>
<p>"I can hear you yawning," his partner countered.</p>
<p>"That's how you know I'm staying awake."</p>
<p>Stardust had them flying high enough that each tree below looked the size of Yusei's finger. It was peaceful up there—at least when the dragon wasn't talking.</p>
<p>"I can be <em>more</em> sure of it though when you say something."</p>
<p>"What exactly would you like me to say?"</p>
<p>"I don't know. You could tell me about this morning again."</p>
<p>"Why? I already told you."</p>
<p>"Yeah but it was <em>interesting</em>. You don't come across many witches these days."</p>
<p>Like dragons.</p>
<p>And encountering either one had a tendency to become a dramatic event. Yusei knew. It wasn't just the morning with Aki that had been noteworthy, meeting Stardust had changed his whole life. Even now, after all this time, Yusei wasn't sure how to name their relationship. Was Stardust his friend? Brother? Father? Teacher? Probably all of them. And probably much more.</p>
<p>Right now, Stardust was his ride. He sat at the base of the dragon's thick neck and looked down over the land while massive wings flapped leisurely behind him. From here, he could see so much, but still, there were secrets he had yet to uncover.</p>
<p>"Why don't you tell me if you can you feel anything suspicious?" Yusei countered.</p>
<p>"Because I don't, not yet. <em>But</em>, I guess I could get closer to the ground."</p>
<p>"All right. Sounds good."</p>
<p>Yusei gripped on tighter as Stardust curved gently downward, losing altitude until he touched the tips of the tallest trees with his smooth, armored belly. As he glided forward on outstretched wings, he scrutinized the treetops, every branch, every nest, every squirrel with his big golden eyes. But he noticed nothing.</p>
<p>Not <em>below </em>him.</p>
<p>Then he felt a vibration in his head. "Wait . . . Hang on," he said carefully. "Now I'm getting something . . . It's getting stronger."</p>
<p>The sun was gone. Only the dim light of dusk remained, casting most everything in sight into shadow. Until the darkness was cut by a ray of light shooting toward them from ahead.</p>
<p>"WHOA!"</p>
<p>Stardust swerved sharply to avoid the hit, and Yusei hugged him with his whole body, cheek against his scales.</p>
<p>"What was that?" Yusei asked as Stardust began to rise straight up, the wind pushing so hard Yusei could barely move his head.</p>
<p>As if to answer, a roar rose into the air, and a creature emerged into view, pitch black against the washed-out colors of the mountains and forest. It wasn't armored like Stardust, but feathered, and its plumage thick like a mane. Both Stardust and Yusei gaped when they realized it was a dragon.</p>
<p><em>Why would it attack us?</em> was the first question Yusei had. But then there was a glint from the dragon's back, and the next question he had was, <em>Is there someone </em>riding<em> it?</em></p>
<hr/>
<p>Hi! How are you? It's Yugirl here! I hope you've been following me on my social media, and if not, I'd love for you to check out my other sites! You can see lots of drawings related to this fanfic on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. …and dreams will become reality, unfortunately</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
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    <strong>Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you.</strong>
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<p>
  <em>
    <strong>Mary Tyler Moore</strong>
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<p>The day had been such a catastrophe that Aki was ready to dig her own grave just for the peace of it. She should have listened to Sayer, and this failed adventure of hers was the proof. Sayer knew best, he knew this was how things would turn out if she left their home. When the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, she reached her garden, which should have been a relief, but she was too ashamed to feel welcomed. Squirrels, rabbits, and birds of every color passed by, but she barely noticed them. She was too absorbed with her own thoughts as she walked with shoulders heavy and eyes set just ahead of her next step.</p>
<p>She felt like a disaster. Thinking back to it made her head ache and her body burn with embarrassment. <em>Stupid, stupid, stupid</em>, she berated herself, wishing she could rip the day from her memories, or that she could go back to the beginning and choose not to go.</p>
<p>Futile thoughts, of course. She would have to live with it. But, at the very least, she had met that knight. That brave, strong, and—most notably to her—<em>kind </em>knight, kind despite the trouble she had caused.</p>
<p>Despite her being a witch.</p>
<p>If nothing else, that made him seem special, but maybe there really was more to him than just that. And maybe he really was in danger. But she couldn't be sure, even after meeting him. She wanted to ease her shame by thinking that at least she had been able to help get the two criminals arrested and reveal their dragon scale trade. But it didn't do much. Such black-market activity didn't have anything to do with her, and helping stop it didn't do anything for her reputation among the people.</p>
<p>Inside her dark room, Aki sat on her bed, hugging her pillow. After a while she let her body drop sideways so she could curl up, the pillow squished against her body. She wanted to go to sleep and escape the thoughts consuming her. Or maybe she could have another dream, one clearer than the one before, one that could help make sense of the chaotic day. She rolled onto her back and combed through her magenta hair with her fingers. She couldn't stop staring at the ceiling, because even though she felt exhausted, she couldn't stop thinking about the knight. He had to be the young man from her dream, and so maybe that meant there was a connection between the dragon and the scales . . .</p>
<p>But again, she couldn't be sure. What she had seen had been too nightmarish, too apocalyptic to understand.</p>
<p>She sighed hard and put the pillow over her face to block everything out. She didn't like the feeling that destiny was toying with her. If she was supposed to know or do something, then she needed clearer instructions. Locking the pillow in place with both her arms, she rolled all the way onto her stomach with her face buried, trying to get comfortable so she could <em>maybe </em>fall asleep. She filled her lungs, and as she began to breathe out—pushing her thoughts out with it—a roar joined her.</p>
<p>Her head shot up from the pillow. The sound was distant—but not <em>that</em> distant. She held still, back arched, until she heard another roar, and then she sprang off her bed and dashed out to the garden with her feet bare. She searched the night sky above the forest trees until she found movement, and her breath caught.</p>
<p>Even in the dark, she could make out the figures of two dragons. One was black, feathered, its long claws and beak curved. The other was moon pale, polished, its wings long and silky, and something fine like . . . like stardust fell with each flap. She would have admired the beauty of it had the two dragons not been engaged in a fierce battle.</p>
<p>Each one sent bursts of magic at the other, sky blue and dark green light streaming from their open mouths, and when they were close enough, they attacked with their teeth and claws. She was so struck by the sight she couldn't blink or look away. Dragons alone were rare enough, but to see <em>two</em>, and two <em>fight </em>like this was unthinkable. So when she realized that each dragon also had a human clinging to its back, she finally got a reprieve from her earlier thoughts because confusion wiped her mind blank.</p>
<p>Dragons didn't let humans ride them.</p>
<p>. . . Did they?</p>
<p>The fight drew the dragons closer as they attacked and dodged. Aki could feel the wind from their powerful wings, but even then she couldn't look away. They could have knocked down her whole house and uprooted her garden if they got any closer, but Aki was thankfully not that unfortunate. Instead, the dragons chased each other higher, straight up into the clouds. Aki craned her head back all the way to keep watching them. She thought she might lose them if they kept going like that.</p>
<p>And then the night lit up, a radiant green and blue sphere expanding with thundering boom. And as the echo spread in waves across the forest canopy, Aki watched with eyes wide and heart tight as the white dragon fell. The black one seemed able to stay airborne, though with a visibly painful limp. And from there, rather than chase the white dragon down into the forest, it beat its wounded wings to fly away. Aki didn't know if that was a sign of victory or retreat.</p>
<p>The next immediate thing Aki had to consider was where the white dragon was going to land. It wouldn't be on top of her, but it was still too close for comfort. Her heart was racing as the dragon became bigger and bigger in her sight. This was bad, this was so bad, if not for her and her house, then for the dragon and the human on its back. They had started so high up, could they even survive the impact? She wrung her hands wishing she had some kind of magic that could help. She felt helpless just watching, breathing fast, whispering to herself, "Oh no, oh no, oh no—"</p>
<p>It came like a bang, shaking the ground so hard Aki wobbled, and then dropped down against the ground as huge waves of dust and leaves blew over her in stormy gusts. Aki covered her head with her arms until the earth and wind felt steady again, and then she slowly lifted her face. She was covered in dirt and leaves, but she didn't notice, not even when leaves drifted off her back and shoulders as she stood. She wasn't tired anymore, and she had to—she <em>had</em> to—go and see.</p>
<p>She ran. The earth was damp and soft on her feet, and she hopped and ducked as she went to avoid the broken branches sticking out in every direction. After only a few hundred meters, she made it. There, in the center of a fresh crater surrounded by smashed trees, was the dragon. It was so much bigger than it had seemed in the sky, even with its wings wrapped around its body as a protective shield. Aki stood at the edge of the broken clearing and stared for a moment in wonder, because right before her eyes, its torn and bloody wounds were healing, alabaster-white scales and wings smoothing out as if time were reversing.</p>
<p>She had never seen such a perfect recovery, without any evidence of damage at all. Dragons truly were remarkable, their magic uniquely marvelous.</p>
<p>But, oh! The human! Aki jolted out of her wonder upon remembering him. Without thinking, she was about to take a step to try to find him, but she froze when she noticed the dragon staring, through the dark of the night and the forest, right at her with a yellow eye. Feeling her skin prickle, she quickly drew herself behind a tree and held her breath.</p>
<p>It wasn't enough.</p>
<p>"You!" the dragon growled threateningly. "I know you're there. I can feel your magic."</p>
<p>It wasn't a voice Aki could hear with her ears. It was there in her head, deep and male, making her heart quake. And now she realized she had forgotten her cape. She closed her eyes tight and cursed herself while knocking her forehead against the tree.</p>
<p>Well, she knew she was caught, there was no point in hiding. Besides, she was there to help, right? And yet, she couldn't bring herself to move. Would the dragon even believe she wasn't an enemy?</p>
<p>"Don't underestimate me," the dragon continued. "I can still kill a tiny thing like you. If you want to live, you better go. <em>Now</em>."</p>
<p>"No wait," Aki said loudly, hoping the dragon could hear her—her voice felt so small and shaky to her own ears. She held out a hand to show her empty palm to the dragon before stepping out from behind the tree. "I . . . I saw you fall and I came to help . . . if I can. Are . . . you ok?"</p>
<p>The dragon had a long neck, which he held in a curl while looking at her sideways with one eye. He took a moment to examine her, reading her aura, her very soul, she felt. "<em>I'll</em> be fine," he answered, the threatening tone in his voice softened.</p>
<p>"What about . . . I thought I saw . . . someone with you."</p>
<p>The dragon's neck moved like a snake as his head drew down to reach under his wings, which he lifted just enough to create a gap. Aki's hand jumped to her mouth as she gasped.</p>
<p>It was him. It was the knight.</p>
<p>The dragon held him gently between his paws, where the young man struggled to breathe. A branch pierced into his side, dark blood oozing against it and down his armor, which had bent open on the joints from being bludgeoned by the trees. His helmet was gone, and in its place were cuts across his face. And as quickly as the dragon was healing, a pool of blood was growing around the knight.</p>
<p>"Can you help him?" Now the dragon's voice was quiet and strained with fear, and hearing a mighty creature sound so helpless only increased her own anxiety.</p>
<p>Aki bit her bottom lip, and then some instinct in her awakened at the awareness that time was short. She exhaled and hardened herself into a state of determination. "I think so." She steeled herself as she drew closer to get a better look. She calculated quickly and said, "I'll need your help. You'll have to remove the branch from his side—when I tell you. Ok?"</p>
<p>The dragon nodded, and Aki knelt down to remove the rest of the knight's armor from around his abdomen, trying to unhook it carefully but quickly. She kept her focus as her fingers worked through the blood and exposed flesh to remove splinters and his soaked undershirt, so much so that she didn't even notice she was able to see her work because of the soft light of the dragon's wings. Her stomach lurched as her hands became slick and sticky, but she forced it still while gritting her teeth.</p>
<p>"Ok," she said firmly, giving the dragon a nod. So he placed his long snout gently against the knight's stomach while taking hold of the branch between two rows of crocodile teeth. The knight grimaced and groaned. Aki glanced at him. His skin was so pale beneath the heavy sweat covering his face.</p>
<p>"Hang on," she murmured to him encouragingly—prayerfully.</p>
<p>Holding her hands at the ready, she watched the branch jerk out of the knight with the dragon's tug, and as the knight knocked his head back to let out a loud, guttural shout of pain, Aki pushed her hands down against the wet, gouged flesh.</p>
<p>She tried not to let his screams distract her—tried to not imagine his agony—and ground her teeth, keeping her eyes on the blood gushing up from under her hands. It was coming out so <em>fast</em>. She just had to be faster.</p>
<p>Aki closed her eyes. She didn't need them, not when the magic began to flow warm through her. She moved it like a muscle, using it to see through to the knight's blood vessels, nerves, and every little fiber of his body. His pulse wasn't just a beat she could feel with her touch, now she could perceive his heart, his lungs, the flow of his blood and breath clearly in her mind's eye, mapped in perfect detail.</p>
<p>Her hands lit up, and that light spread across the knight's torso. And it sank into him, into his blood and flesh and bone, giving him a new warmth. It encouraged his blood to keep flowing, nurtured his bones back to solid pieces, soldered the gashes and cuts back into smooth skin, but not before the blood that soaked the earth beneath him flowed in reverse back into his body. And with the volume of his blood restored, the light swam with it to all his organs, restoring and rekindling their vitality, until his body was so fresh Aki might have removed years of wear from him.</p>
<p>But the ordeal had still taken its toll, and the knight could only fall into a deep sleep upon being relieved of his pain, lulled by a sweet heat that smelled of roses.</p>
<p>Aki too was exhausted. The light went out with a deep sigh, and her arms felt heavy as she dragged them to her sides. Some of her bangs were loose and messily stuck to the sweat on her face while other longer strands flapped on her hard, ragged breath. But she managed to smile—even laugh.</p>
<p>She had done it. <em>She had really done it</em>.</p>
<p>The knight was alive. <em>Better</em> than alive. He was healed, completely, not a scratch on him, only the damage on his armor left as evidence of the battery he had endured. As a drop of sweat dripped from her chin, she bowed her head and closed her eyes.</p>
<p>"Thank goodness," she whispered. She could have cried, relief pushing against the back of her eyes like ocean waves. She didn't think she had ever felt so accomplished. And after the day she had had . . .</p>
<p>It could be so easy to get addicted to this feeling, this rush, this sense of . . . meaning. She looked ragged, but she was certain that if she looked in the mirror, for the first time she might feel proud of the girl staring back at her. Maybe she wasn't just a mistake, a walking disaster, a hated witch, a . . . killer. Maybe it was possible she could be . . . something else.</p>
<p>Just as cautious doubt began to circle the hope in her mind, a spell of dizziness drained her and she began to fall. But a sleek white paw caught her before she could land on top of the knight, and for a moment she just lay against it, panting. When she was able to open her eyes, at first all she could see was blurry, but then a large golden eye came into focus.</p>
<p>"You're powerful for a thing so small," said a soft voice in her mind.</p>
<p>To hear such a thing from a dragon was enough to bring out even more wonder in Aki. "Really?" she said with a small voice.</p>
<p>"Yes. Not many witches have magic like yours. And we crossed paths at the perfect time."</p>
<p>Aki nodded, her cheek still against his paw. "It's like destiny," she murmured with a laugh.</p>
<p>The dragon stared at her, and his voice in her mind was sincere when he said, "Destiny or not, thank you. If you hadn't come . . ."</p>
<p>Not wanting either of them to think about it, Aki said with a shy smile, "Well, he did save me first."</p>
<p>For a moment the dragon stared, then comprehension brightened his eye. "Ahhh. So <em>you're</em> the one."</p>
<p>"The one?"</p>
<p>"He mentioned helping a girl out in town today. And that she was clearly not from Neo Domino . . . among other things. I guess he was right." Aki felt her face warm at learning that she had been spoken of, and before she could ask what those <em>other things</em> that had been mentioned were, the dragon asked, "What was your name again?"</p>
<p>They both knew she had never given it, but she didn't correct him. "Aki. And what's yours?"</p>
<p>"Stardust. And this is Yusei," he added, gesturing to the sleeping knight he held cradled in his claws.</p>
<p>"Oh." She wasn't sure what more to say. Not just because she was tired, but because talking to a dragon was a bit . . . surreal.</p>
<p>"Aki." She was startled to hear her own name. It was so rarely said. "You may have overpaid a debt to Yusei, and at the same time, I now owe you one too."</p>
<p>Those words felt like a vice grip around her chest. The idea was so unfathomable it caused her discomfort. She felt it slide through her body, making her squirm. "You don't . . ." she mumbled awkwardly, looking away from his gold eye.</p>
<p>"I can't just say thank you," the dragon insisted.</p>
<p>Aki turned her eyes to the knight—to <em>Yusei</em>. It calmed her heart to see him resting peacefully, his breathing slow. "He must mean a lot to you," she said softly.</p>
<p>"He does," Stardust confirmed. "He's my friend."</p>
<p><em>Friend</em>. The word rang with the comforting tones of <em>trust</em>, <em>joy</em>, and <em>love</em>, making Aki's heart ache.</p>
<p>"By now, he's basically family."</p>
<p>She tried not to let the pang she felt in her chest show on her face. "That sounds really nice."</p>
<p>Stardust's eye focused on her, and she knew he was probably reading into her, and deeper than just her thoughts—a human's soul was as visible to a dragon as Yusei's arteries and veins had been to her. That made her recoil and push herself out of his open palm.</p>
<p><em>Don't look at me</em>, she begged. <em>Not like that</em>. She could feel his curiosity like a thickening fog, so she tried to redirect his attention. "He must be a good person for you to trust him."</p>
<p>The dragon took the hint and complied. "He is. Too much for his own good. But I suppose that's part of his charm."</p>
<p>Aki laughed, relieved and grateful. "Well, a good man deserves a good rest. I can give him a bed, and food. He'll need that to fully recover."</p>
<p>"He hasn't yet?"</p>
<p>"Well, I've sealed him up and got everything back in its place. But it's still like he just got out of a bad illness. He needs to refuel his body's energy, and that could take a little while."</p>
<p>"I see."</p>
<p>"So please, you're more than welcome to stay with me until he's ready to move again. I'm alone here, so it's safe."</p>
<p>"You'd ask me to put myself in even more debt to you?"</p>
<p>Aki stiffened. "No, that's not—I wasn't even thinking—"</p>
<p>"I'm joking." The dragon's voice conveyed his laughter all the way down Aki's spine.</p>
<p>"O—. . . Oh."</p>
<p>"Yusei would tell you to not mind me. I'm just like that."</p>
<p>"Oh, I didn't know . . ."</p>
<p>"Why would you? We just met."</p>
<p>"Haha, right," Aki laughed nervously. What she had really been thinking was that dragons weren't known for being creatures with a sense of humor.</p>
<p>"Anyway," Stardust said slowly, "are you really ok with us staying with you?"</p>
<p>"I wouldn't offer if I wasn't. Before you two, I always made sure no one even knew I existed, let alone where I live."</p>
<p>"I see. No, I can understand that. Humans can be . . . cruel."</p>
<p>Aki curled a hand tight around her wrist and squeezed. "Yes," she murmured. And then the air filled with their silent knowledge of that truth, weighing the mood down.</p>
<p>"I'm glad you're a good one," Stardust said suddenly.</p>
<p>Aki's eyes darted to him in surprise. And then she looked away with shoulders drooping. <em>How can you say that</em>, she wanted to ask. <em>You just met me</em>.</p>
<p>"Are you ok?" he asked.</p>
<p>She took a deep breath to help herself straighten. "Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine. I just need some rest too. I'll be better in the morning."</p>
<p>"Hmm."</p>
<p>"And . . . it might be nice to have a little company, for a little while. And anyway I wouldn't be able to stop wondering about how he's doing if you just left now. I want to make sure he's doing well."</p>
<p>"So you're a witch <em>and</em> a doctor."</p>
<p>"I don't think having one patient qualifies me to be a doctor."</p>
<p>"I don't see why not."</p>
<p>Aki rolled a lock of hair between her fingers. "Well, let's just see how it goes first," she said.</p>
<p>"All right. Lead the way." With that, Stardust gently lifted Yusei off the ground and into one of his bent arms, leaving him three feet to walk with. Aki thought about perhaps using her magic to summon some vines to tie Yusei in place on Stardust's back, but she wasn't sure she would have the energy to stand if she did. So she nodded and turned to walk through the forest again, the dragon lumbering slowly behind her with uneven steps, every movement designed to keep Yusei secure and comfortable.</p>
<p>It was on the way back that Aki remembered she wasn't wearing shoes. She would have to wash her feet before going inside. Her mind was occupied with such mundane thoughts, but also remembering her dream, and how anxious she was to make sure the knight lived, and how strange this all seemed. It was too much in her head, so she found it easier to say nothing as she moved.</p>
<p>She ducked under one last branch before stepping into the clearing where her garden greeted her, and the cottage stood cozy in the center. Stardust slithered his neck and body through the trees to keep from knocking them over, and when he too was in the clearing, he extended his wings into the open air to stretch them.</p>
<p>"I like this place," Stardust declared. "Much better than the city."</p>
<p>"Yes," Aki agreed. "The city didn't have any flowers."</p>
<p>"I'm pretty sure the city doesn't even have <em>weeds</em>."</p>
<p>No, she imagined he was right. Within the arid walls of Neo Domino was a life of stone and pavement, dirt and filth, children chasing escaped chickens, soldiers chasing tiny thieves, markets rowdy with livestock for sale and the persistent, competitive hawking of the sellers, dust constantly rising as wheels and feet and hooves trampled the old stone avenues. The air was completely different there. It wasn't a place for Aki—like a plant, she would find no nourishment there.</p>
<p>She took in a deep breath, grateful to be among fresh, living green and earth. And she looked over her garden with delight—and some amount of pride. From the smallest flowers dusting the ground, to the tall fruit trees bursting with their sweet gifts, and the rose bushes releasing their perfume, it felt like home, a place where she could give herself and be rewarded for her labor and love.</p>
<p>The cottage was nestled in the center, where the ground dipped into a shallow valley, and a giant oak covered it with shade. Its wood and stone walls were covered with vines and moss so thick they almost completely concealed it.</p>
<p>And a veil of magic did the rest, making it unnoticeable to the unwelcome eye.</p>
<p>"This place'll be good for him," Aki said confidently, looking to Yusei. "Just need to figure out the best way to get him inside."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Fire. Fire everywhere. The trees, the houses, the animals as they ran to escape it. They ran to the grassy hills and meadows, seeking refuge, desperate to save whatever was left of their singed fur and escape the fiery claws of death that threatened to devour them whole.</p>
<p>No such luck.</p>
<p>Those who managed to avoid the fire couldn't escape the smoke stinging their eyes and noses. They choked and coughed while their blinded eyes filled with tears, but not enough to clear their senses.</p>
<p>And to even last that long required evading the strike of a sword.</p>
<p>Peace was not the foundation on which the kingdom of Domino was built. Nor was it a thread in the fabric of daily life. No, whether on the outskirts or in the central provinces, villages of Domino were marked by a pervasive gloom. But the worst was Satellite, a rather remote village near the kingdom's border. So murky was it, people gossiped that it was forsaken by God—though not forgotten by the crown. The sheriffs always came to collect their due in taxes, and bandits came to plunder the rest. Where the king and castle were rich, the people and homes of Satellite were poor, small, and wretched, packed into tiny, crowded tenements, making a life—and their meals—from scraps.</p>
<p>The kingdom's trash. That's what they were. The no-goods. The scoundrels. The undesirables.</p>
<p>Everyone knew to stay away from there, unless it was for a fight, or to hide, and even then it was risky. The only reason tax collection was successful was because of the threat of an army invasion. But a lone soldier without crown business could not count on his uniform ensuring his protection in Satellite.</p>
<p>It had been that way for generations, Satellite existing like an ugly stain tolerated only because it served as a kind of valve for any pressure inside the kingdom. Miscreants knew they could go to Satellite and blow off steam, and it wouldn't raise enough chaos to threaten the entire structure of Domino.</p>
<p>One night changed that.</p>
<p>The pressure built up too strong, exacerbated by rising tensions between neighboring kingdoms, and all it took was one unfortunate murder to undo a delicate balance. Among the gangs that had formed and fought to claim territory in Satellite, one leader's young daughter was killed, sparking a furious spate of revenge that spiraled out of control.</p>
<p>Culminating in a fire.</p>
<p>The scourge consumed everything, and all who fled were mercilessly, indiscriminately cut down by those waiting in the surroundings. By that time, all had been declared guilty, and there were to be no prisoners.</p>
<p>Yusei was ten years old that night, the night he saw his home burn. The night he watched a sword pierce through his father, as if his body was butter, even though Yusei had only ever known him to be big and strong. The night he heard his mother wail like he had never heard before—and then take the chance her husband had provided with his protection for her and Yusei to flee.</p>
<p>Yusei ran in a daze, his mother dragging him by the arm to keep up with her, occasionally wiping her eyes with her free hand. "Hurry, hurry!" she pleaded as they were chased into the woods. "Don't look back!" He felt like he was in a dream, a dream he knew was a dream. He was scared, but he knew he just had to wake up. He had dreamed of being chased before, and he always woke up, safe at home.</p>
<p>His conviction was shattered when he fell, tripped by a root he hadn't noticed quick enough to jump over. His weight stopped his mother like an anchor, and she turned to try to pull him to his feet. But a pursuer had already reached them.</p>
<p>Yusei froze where he was on the ground, his eyes wide as his mother jumped to put herself between him and the man. She held a kitchen knife toward him, pulled from the folds of her dress, and for a moment it was enough to make him pause. But the others would get there soon too, so all he had to do was wait for his smoky lungs to rest, and her threat would lose even its small power.</p>
<p>"Yusei," she called without turning her eyes from her opponent. "Go! Run!"</p>
<p>To Yusei, those words felt like a kick to his chest. "What? No!"</p>
<p>"<em>Run</em>!" she screamed. "Run all the way to Martha!"</p>
<p>"But mom—"</p>
<p>"<em>Listen</em> to me!" She gripped the knife with two hands and spread her feet to hold herself more firmly in place, all the while glaring forward as if she was speaking to the foul man ahead of her. "I'll follow as soon as I can, but you need to go. <em>Now</em>!"</p>
<p>Yusei's face broke as he looked at his mother's determined back. He didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave <em>her</em>. He couldn't help fearing that if he lost sight of her, he would never see her again—and he wouldn't even know what had happened to her. At least he had the closure of seeing his father die.</p>
<p>He didn't want his parents to sacrifice themselves for him, what kind of trade was it to save his life and lose theirs? He wanted to wrap his arms around her and declare he wouldn't let go, that he would stay with her no matter what. But she was being so brave, just like his father had been. He needed to be brave too.</p>
<p>So with a sob, he jumped to his feet and began to run, his eyes dried from the flames and smoke. And with as loud a voice as he could muster, he screamed, "I'll be waiting for you!" He screamed with all his heart, as if it was a spell that could guarantee she would come. But when he tried to cast it again, his voice came out weak and fractured. "I'll be waiting . . ."</p>
<p>And he ran, his skinny legs carrying him swiftly and deftly through the woods, which also became darker as the trees and brush thickened the farther in he got. His young, lithe body could move much easier through the tangled masses and crooked spaces, giving him the advantage over any of the men who would struggle to pass through after him. And he tried to keep his mind on that one piece of hope, while deliberately repressing the queasy feeling in his gut that for every step he took, his mother became a mile farther away.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Yusei's eyes opened slowly until they lazily drooped halfway. He blinked heavily while breathing in deep, and then forced his eyes open. It took a moment for his surroundings to come into focus, but when they did, he found himself in a cozy room, dust dancing in the light that streamed delicately through the window to his side. He didn't recognize the room and couldn't remember how he got there, but he was confused enough just being alive that for a minute he just soaked in the sensation.</p>
<p>His eyes wandered, and he noticed that the walls were a ruddy wood, decorated with vines of ivy curling and winding their way up from the floor to the ceiling. Tall shelves on the wall opposite him were full of books coated with a thin layer of dust. On every surface available were various sizes of vases, each with a different type of flower. He looked down to the bed and found himself covered in a quilt with fabrics cut into angular flower patterns. Opposite the window, the wall vibrated with the silhouettes of branches and leaves, and from beyond the window he could hear musical, high-pitched chirping.</p>
<p>Such a different scene from his nightmare. It helped ease the nausea he felt every time he woke from it, even after ten years.</p>
<p>He tried to think back to what had happened before he had been engulfed by those flames again. What was it he had he been doing again?</p>
<p>He started upon remembering the explosion, the blinding light and deafening boom, the sensation falling, and the . . . His hands hardened into stone fists as he gripped the blanket. He and Stardust had been falling straight toward the forest below. Yusei couldn't quite remember what the landing had felt like, everything was kind of blurry and dreamlike from that point.</p>
<p><em>Stardust</em>.</p>
<p>Feeling suddenly anxious to know where his friend was, Yusei shot up to sit, but just as quickly, dizziness knocked him back down. His skull throbbed as if his pulse was a hammer, and he pushed against it with both hands to dull the pain. And at the same time his abdomen felt sore and weak, his throat dry, his whole body exhausted. He could have easily gone back to sleep.</p>
<p>But he pushed himself to stay awake. He couldn't feel safe enough in an unfamiliar place for that. He had to find out where he was, and hopefully in the process satisfy some bodily needs. So he rolled off his back and steadied himself by gripping the nearest post of the headboard as he slid to his feet. The more he moved, the harder his head pounded, but he pushed through it, breathing through gritted teeth. And as he stood with his head bent low, it occurred to him that his armor was gone, and he noticed that the shirt he wore was not his.</p>
<p>"Oh!"</p>
<p>Despite his head, Yusei whipped around to look. It bothered him that he hadn't heard footsteps, but maybe the blood rushing in his ears was the cause of that. His vision needed a second to unblur, and he easily recognized the girl when she came into focus. Her again? The one who had been so out of place when he found her in Neo Domino. She didn't seem out of place here, though. She stood at the open door, holding a pungent green bunch in her hands, her feet bare, and she seemed to be standing on the balls of her feet as she looked at him.</p>
<p>"You?" he mumbled, his voice somewhat slurred. His brow furrowed and he dropped back down to sit on the edge of the bed. As he bent forward to push on his aching head again, the girl set the herbs on the nearest small table and rushed to his side.</p>
<p>"Are you ok?" she asked gently.</p>
<p>That was the least important question on his mind. He groaned back, "Where am I?"</p>
<p>"You're in my home," she said with a voice that was mercifully soft to his ears.</p>
<p>"How did I get here?"</p>
<p>"Stardust carried you, and I led the way."</p>
<p>That opened the floodgates to so many more questions. But he was so tired, so instead of asking them all, he settled for, "What happened?"</p>
<p>She kept it simple. "I was here when I saw you two fall. I went to find you. When I got there, you were half dead. I managed to heal you, and then I gave Stardust an invitation to stay here for a while so you could rest."</p>
<p>Yusei rubbed his eyes hard with his fingertips. He felt so disoriented.</p>
<p>"Where's Stardust?"</p>
<p>"He's outside. I should let him know you woke up."</p>
<p>"Wait," he said, reaching out to grab her shoulder. "Take me to him." If he could see Stardust, that would at least give him some confirmation that it was ok for him to be there. He looked up into the girl's eyes to see her reaction. She seemed unsure.</p>
<p>"You don't look like you can stand," she observed slowly.</p>
<p>He didn't feel like it either, but he would. "I need to see him."</p>
<p>The girl let out a breath through her nose, then answered, "Ok, but stay here. I can have him come to the window to see you."</p>
<p>Instinctively Yusei shifted his gaze to the window. "Who else is here?"</p>
<p>"No one. It's just the three of us." The girl walked around to the other side of the bed to unlock and push open the window, allowing even more light to spill through. Yusei felt it like a stab to the back of his eyes and squinted hard. As he groaned, the girl came back to him and put a hand lightly on his shoulder. "You'll be ok," she said reassuringly. "Your body just needs some time."</p>
<p>He was going to try to look at her again, but before he got the chance, she was already dashing away, light as a deer. He took the minute while she was gone to nurse his eyes open—and remember. <em>Aki</em>, that had been her name. When the light didn't feel as harsh anymore, he heard a growl from behind him, which contrasted with the human voice in his head. "Yusei!" He looked up and saw a large shadow on the wall, which already filled him with relief, and he turned around to find Stardust there, his head turned sideways at the window to look inside.</p>
<p>"Stardust," he greeted with a large smile.</p>
<p>"You look good," the dragon said. "I mean, better than you did earlier."</p>
<p>"How bad did I look?"</p>
<p>"Well considering you had a whole big branch sticking out of you and blood <em>gushing</em> up like a fountain, I'd say you looked pretty damn bad. Like, you-were-this-close-to-dying-on-me bad."</p>
<p>"That bad, huh?"</p>
<p>"That bad."</p>
<p>Yusei supposed that meant Aki had been telling the truth. That was comforting. "Then I guess I should be grateful I only feel <em>this</em> bad," he said with a wry smirk that lurched into a grimace when he felt a stab in his side.</p>
<p>"You should," Stardust agreed. "You should be grateful to feel <em>anything</em>."</p>
<p>"Right. And I guess <em>you're</em> ok."</p>
<p>"Naturally." The dragon's imposing presence, with his razor teeth and solid gold eyes, belied the humor ringing in his psychic voice.</p>
<p>Then Yusei lowered his voice. "So that girl, she healed me?"</p>
<p>Stardust nodded. "She sure did. I haven't been that impressed in a long time."</p>
<p>That said something. It was only strange to Yusei that a witch who was apparently so impressive could also be so helpless and afraid, as she had been in the city. He didn't know what to make of that.</p>
<p>"Can I come in?"</p>
<p>Both of them looked to the door and saw Aki there again, this time carrying a wood tray by its black metal handles.</p>
<p>"It's your house, isn't it?" Stardust asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah, but this is <em>Yusei's</em> room."</p>
<p>Yusei felt a kind of wonder at that. When was the last time he had had a room that was his? He stared at Aki, forgetting to answer. And when he continued to stare at her, she shifted her weight back and forth on her feet and then said, "It's not much, but I thought you'd be hungry."</p>
<p>That stirred Yusei out of his stupor. "Yes. I mean, yes, come in, please. I am hungry." He normally wouldn't have been so forward in admitting it, but the fact was he felt quite starved.</p>
<p>Aki smiled and came walking lightly up to the bed and lay the tray there next to him. He looked down to see a basket with a full loaf of warm bread, a bowl of fresh fruit, a jar of syrup, a small plate with a cut of butter, a knife, and to top it off, a thin vase with a single white rose blooming from its mouth. The smell of it all made Yusei's mouth water and his stomach rumble.</p>
<p>"Oooo, breakfast in bed. Aren't <em>you</em> the pampered prince?" Stardust teased.</p>
<p>"Oooo, aren't you <em>jealous</em>?" Yusei bantered back without missing a beat.</p>
<p>Aki stood by with silent fascination.</p>
<p>Yusei put both hands on the bread to rip it open and get a bite the size of his fist, but before he stuffed himself, he looked to Aki. "Did you make all this?"</p>
<p>"Oh, um, yeah. Sorry if it's not as good as what you're used to. I don't really host and this is just what I know how to make so—"</p>
<p>"It looks great," he said to ease her. "Thank you."</p>
<p>She nodded bashfully, then jumped. "Water! I'll be right back!" And she raced out the door.</p>
<p>Yusei took that chance to jam nearly half the loaf into his mouth, and it was so fresh, so warm, it practically melted on his tongue with a rich, rustic flavor enhanced by several different herbs. He moaned and closed his eyes and found himself torn between filling his belly quickly and savoring the taste. Had bread ever tasted so good?</p>
<p>Aki reappeared with an empty cup and a pitcher full of water, which she placed on the table next to the bed. "Here," she said. "Just let me know when you need more."</p>
<p>Yusei nodded to hide that there was still a chunk of bread in his mouth, and only after he gulped it down did he say, "Thank you."</p>
<p>She nodded again, visibly awkward. "Um, well, I think I'll go . . . take care of some chores and things. Just let me know if you need anything. I'll be here. I'll bring you more to eat when you want. So, um, yeah, just let me know."</p>
<p>Based on how she had been received by the people of Neo Domino, he could believe she wasn't used to having guests. It made him want to make it easy for her. "I will."</p>
<p>"Liar," Stardust whispered into Yusei's head.</p>
<p>Yusei could only throw a sharp glance toward him as a retort.</p>
<p>"Ok, well. Um." She pointed to the door with her thumb. "Guess I'll . . . see you later."</p>
<p>"I'm sure I'll be here."</p>
<p>"Right," she said with a nervous laugh. And then not knowing how else to end things, she just turned around and walked out.</p>
<p>Yusei then showed enough restraint to first scrape butter and syrup onto the second half of the loaf before biting a big chunk out of it.</p>
<p>"Don't hold back now," Stardust said slyly.</p>
<p>"Shut up," Yusei mumbled, his words distorted by mushy bread.</p>
<p>"I mean it though. She made like, at <em>least</em> five loaves."</p>
<p>"She didn't make them all for <em>me</em> though, did she?"</p>
<p>"Well she didn't make them for <em>me</em>."</p>
<p>Yusei didn't say that he was pretty sure he was hungry enough to eat all of them—and even if he wasn't, if they all tasted this good, how could he resist? But it made him feel better to know that if he scarfed this one down, he could still have another to savor as it deserved.</p>
<p>In the rest of the house, Aki became a kind of busybody, seeing the house with new eyes that let her see all the things than needed to be straightened and cleaned. When it was just her, the loose arrangement of things was good enough, but these were <em>guests</em>. Her first ever <em>guests</em>. She felt like she had to get this right.</p>
<p>So she made the beds, freshened all the flower pots and vases, swept up all the dirt on the floor, tidied up papers that had been scattered about—some forgotten—and collected the magical gadgets her mentor had left around like a child with his toys. And all the while she kept an ear burning for any sound coming from Yusei's room that might signal her attendance was needed. Heaven forbid he try to get up and just collapse onto the floor.</p>
<p>After a few hours she was occupied with dusting the bookshelves in the sitting room, and in the midst of it she noticed movement from the corner of her eye. She glanced over to find Yusei limping into view, leaning hard against the wall to use it as his support. She dropped her duster and leapt across the room to reach him. "Do you need something?" she asked while taking his free arm with hers.</p>
<p>"No," he sighed. He was pale, breathing hard, and shaking. "I just . . . wanted to see how far I could get."</p>
<p>"Here, let me help you to the couch," she offered. It was only a few steps away, but Yusei let her have some of his weight so he could make the effort to get there. When they were close enough, he dropped down like an anchor into the center of the cushion and leaned his head back over the edge. Aki stood close by, waiting for some kind of inspiration of what she could do to help.</p>
<p>"I'm fine," he said with labored breath, because he could feel her concern from where he sat. "Just dizzy."</p>
<p>"I'm sorry." She wrang her hands with guilt. "I wish I knew how to use my magic for something like that."</p>
<p>"No." With visible effort, he pulled his head up from the back of the couch so he could look at her while sitting straight. "I can deal with it. Besides, you helped with something more important. If this is the side effect of being alive, I'll take it."</p>
<p>"Well, still," she said quietly. "I don't like seeing you like this."</p>
<p>"Listen," he said, reaching out to put a hand on her arm. It made her start, but she didn't pull away. "I want to say thank you. Really, thank you. I'm more grateful than I know how to say, and I owe you a huge debt."</p>
<p>Aki shook her head quickly. "No, I'm the one who had a debt first. Now we can say I've repaid you."</p>
<p>"What you did for me is <em>way </em>more than what I did. And you're <em>still</em> helping me now."</p>
<p>She looked away and sighed. "I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything. I don't like there being a price for kindness."</p>
<p>He looked at her sad eyes and thought he understood. "Mm. Yeah," he agreed with a low voice. "Especially when cruelty is so cheap."</p>
<p>She looked at him again, and for a moment they were just quiet, sharing a knowing gaze while soaking in their own private memories. Neither of them knew if the other would be comfortable if they were to sit next to each other, and they didn't ask, so Aki continued to stand.</p>
<p>"All right, we won't call it a debt," Yusei said softly, respecting the solemnity that had taken over the room. "We'll just say I hope I can show you kindness again in the future."</p>
<p>That made the sullen weight in her chest lighten, and she smiled at him. "Ok, I can agree to that." Then feeling bashful and awkward, she tried to come up with an excuse to stop staring at him. "Let me get you something," she said as she was already turning to go to the kitchen.</p>
<p>Yusei didn't protest, because he hoped she was bringing him more food, but also because that meant she was coming back. And she did, carrying another tray, which she set on the couch beside him after looking around for a place that made sense.</p>
<p>But Yusei stopped her before she could straighten. "Wait," he said, putting a hand on her wrist right as the tray touched the cushion. And this time he did ask. "Would you mind sitting with me for a bit?"</p>
<p>For a second her mouth was wordlessly open, but then she answered, "No, I don't mind."</p>
<p>So Yusei reached out to take the tray from her and move it from the couch to his lap, giving her room to sit. She took an inconspicuous deep breath and willed her heart to calm down as she slowly settled into the cushion, though with her back straight and tight.</p>
<p>Yusei was looking down at the tray, delighted to find another herbed loaf of bread and a pitcher of fresh juice.</p>
<p>"Sorry for all the bread," Aki said shyly. "It was the easiest thing to make a lot of on such short notice."</p>
<p>"No, I love it. It's really good," he insisted.</p>
<p>Aki looked down to her lap and smiled. "Well, I'll still try to make other things tomorrow. I've got lots of vegetables to roast."</p>
<p>"I'm sure they'll be great too."</p>
<p>She tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "I guess you're already starting to show me that kindness now, huh?" Aki teased, trying to hide how warm and self-conscious she felt.</p>
<p>Yusei laughed. "No, this kind of kindness is too easy to count." He picked up the knife, and as he began to actually cut off a thick slice from the bread, he said, "Can I ask you something?"</p>
<p>Aki's fingers began to wriggle and flex on her thighs. "Sure."</p>
<p>Yusei picked up his slice with his fingertips spread around the crust. "What brought you to Neo Domino yesterday?"</p>
<p>Aki's nails dug through her dress and into her thighs. "Um . . ."</p>
<p>"Yeah, that's actually a good question!"</p>
<p>Aki whipped her head around to find the source of the voice that was not a voice, and quickly she and Yusei both caught sight of a large white head and a single gold eye looking in on them through a window.</p>
<p>"How long have you <em>been </em>there?" Yusei asked.</p>
<p>"Ohhh. Oh <em>I'm</em> sorry, was this little gathering here supposed to be <em>private</em>?"</p>
<p>"That's not why I asked. How did I not <em>notice</em> you?" he asked more to himself than anyone else.</p>
<p>"Beats me. Guess you were busy."</p>
<p>"Jeez," Yusei muttered without actually being annoyed.</p>
<p>"<em>Aaaanyway</em>, the city doesn't seem like a place you'd go to if you could avoid it," Stardust noted, turning the attention back to Aki, whose shoulders had bunched up tight.</p>
<p>"Yeahhh, you'd be right about that," she said as if she was admitting to something shameful. Yusei looked at her and observed her discomfort with curiosity while spreading butter onto his bread.</p>
<p>"Did something happen? I mean <em>before</em> all the stuff that Yusei told me about happened."</p>
<p>"Umm . . . sort of? Yes and no, but not really?"</p>
<p>"Sounds intriguing."</p>
<p>Aki blew out a loud breath and then patted her knees with both hands. "Ok. Well . . . I guess you could say, I had some kind of . . . premonition."</p>
<p>Yusei's mouth was too full for him to comment, so Stardust alone said, "Ohhh. It's been some time since I last heard of that happening."</p>
<p>Aki instantly perked up, the reluctance in her expression giving way to the brightness of hope. "So you believe in something like that?"</p>
<p>Stardust snorted. "<em>Ob</em>-viously. It happens. Granted, not very often, but it happens."</p>
<p>Aki seemed relieved just to have gotten that far. Yusei could see that it softened much of the tension in her shoulders. He inserted the last third of his slice into his mouth.</p>
<p>"I see," she sighed.</p>
<p>"So what kind of premonition was it?" the dragon asked, as Yusei knew he would. He wasn't a talkative man, but it was even easier to keep quiet when Stardust could do the talking.</p>
<p>Aki worked her jaw, the muscles in her face flexing visibly. "A nightmare." With some effort, she narrated in detail everything she had seen in her vision, describing it to convey how it had felt as well. And then she told her side of the story, how she had gone to the city in search of the mysterious boy because it felt like it was <em>very important</em> that she find him, and everything else until she caught up to the part that they knew—the part where she discovered the contraband and was herself discovered in turn.</p>
<p>Yusei had been holding the same half-empty cup of juice for several minutes, forgetting about it as he became more engrossed in her tale. When she finished, she said, "I can't explain why it felt so <em>urgent</em> that I go to Neo Domino, and it's not like I knew what to expect. It was just a feeling, and I followed it. Honestly, I was kind of hoping it would turn out to be just a nightmare with no meaning to it. But I don't think it is."</p>
<p>"Mmm, no," Stardust agreed, his humor replaced with a grave tone. "There have definitely been strange things happening lately. I've noticed a kind of turbulence in the flow of magic, and I can't tell what's causing it. And then you have that dragon and the one riding him who attacked us. It felt too targeted to be a random coincidence, and the worst-case scenario I can think of is that they are involved in the dragon-scale trade, connected to the dragon in your vision, <em>and</em> working with whatever big, bad enemy is behind the dark aura spreading around this area." Both Aki and Yusei could hear the hot snort he released from the other side of the window. "I guess it was too much to hope for things to actually get better. But I take personal offense against anyone threatening my homeland. I've protected it before, and I'll do it again."</p>
<p>With that declaration, Aki could feel the might of a dragon emanating from him again. When he spoke, it was easy to fall into the illusion that he was domestic. "What happened before?" she asked curiously. "When did you have to protect this place?"</p>
<p>Stardust thought briefly, then answered, "It was ten years ago now. When Yusei saved my life."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Crossed destinies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” ― G.K. Chesterton</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Yusei’s eyes were dry. The fire and ash had done their part from the outside, but inside he had simply run out of tears. And he had run himself out of strength in his legs. He had done as his mother bid for as long as he could, but his lungs were struggling, and when he was finally too shaky to stand, he crumpled to the ground. He rolled onto his back and just lay there breathing, his arms and legs stretched out as sweat raced down all the pores of his body like rain.</p>
<p>His whole body ached, especially his throbbing legs, which were getting heavier by the second. And every so often, between speedy breaths, he made a muffled, dry sob. But still, no tears.</p>
<p>He wanted to fall asleep, but he was in too much pain and his heart was beating too fast. He could only lie on his back and feel the world see-saw beneath him. He closed his eyes to try to ease the vertigo. He stayed like that until the nauseating thought came to him that he should try to hide. He opened his eyes and turned his head to put his cheek on the dirt. He wouldn’t be able to move far, so the bushes next to him would have to do.</p>
<p>Taking a few deep breaths, he flung himself to roll onto his stomach, and grunting as his body protested with even greater waves of pain, he crawled, dragging his deadweight legs with what strength was left in his arms, until he had made it under the thick brush that coated the ground. It wasn’t a bed, but to his exhausted and screaming muscles, it was paradise. He lay there, hugged by firm greenery and branches, and let himself relax.</p>
<p>He was vaguely aware that he had absolutely no idea where he was, but that was the least of his concerns at the moment. He was drained. He could tell he wouldn’t be able to move again for hours. And by the time he could, he would be even more hungry and thirsty than he was now. His stomach felt tiny inside him, shrunk by all his exertion, and his throat was dry. He couldn’t even be afraid anymore, not even in the dark, quiet, unfamiliar forest. He was too numb.</p>
<p>Against his closed eyelids, he saw replayed over and over again by his mind the blade erupting out of his father’s back, the blood as it spread across his shirt. The blood on the ground—and the bodies they came from. The fires that chewed on both, and the crusty grass beneath them, and the houses. The last look of his mother’s back.</p>
<p>Yusei swallowed, but it was a dry motion.</p>
<p>Then his body shivered. The night was cold, and lying still he could feel it settle against him. Just one more discomfort on top of all the rest. Maybe dying would have been better. This could have all been avoided if he had just stayed with his mom . . .</p>
<p>Could he even make it to Martha at the rate? She lived all the way in Domino City, the heart of the kingdom, while he was coming from the fringes. All alone. And he was realizing he could barely remember Martha’s face. Could he even find her if he managed to make it there?</p>
<p>He had never wanted to be comforted as much as he did right now. He wanted an adult to tell him it would be ok and to tell him they knew what to do in a situation like this. He wasn’t ready. He had thought he was. He had thought he had learned how to be strong, independent, resourceful, just like his parents wanted. He had fancied himself reliable and brave.</p>
<p>He was wrong.</p>
<p>He wasn’t ready to be on his own, not like this.</p>
<p>He wanted his life back. He wanted the mother who had taught him to read and write, taught him stories, taught him to love learning. He wanted his father, who had taught him so many things he could do with his hands and his mind working together. He had built so many things out of junk, impressing them both with his ability to see potential that no one else could imagine. He wanted to make them proud and see their smiles again. He wanted his mother to hug him and kiss him and call him “my little hero” like she always did. He wanted her to be his light in the gloom.</p>
<p>He wanted her to tell him again that he was so much like his father—his father who he admired: a dedicated, hardworking man full of love for his family and passion for his craft. The gloom didn’t seem to bother him: he was able to work for hours without losing focus, and Yusei never heard him complain about anything. He just wanted to teach Yusei, like an apprentice, until he could build anything and work with any material.</p>
<p>Oh . . . right. All those things he had made—both Yusei and his father—they would all be burned down with the house. Was there any evidence left of his life before now? He couldn’t quite wrap his head around it, the idea that his memories might be all he had.</p>
<p>
  <em>“You know, of all the things I’ve built and all the things I’ve made, the thing I’m most proud of is Yusei.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“It’s my favorite, too.”</em>
</p>
<p>He was willing to trade all those memories to get his parents back and be able to make new ones. He would trade their voices in his head to feel their arms around him again.</p>
<p>Then his ears twitched and he stiffened. Not too far off he heard footsteps and the rustle of leaves and branches as bodies moved through them—too many of them to be his mother. Forcing himself to breathe silently, he very slowly pushed a few leaves down to make a small window for his eye to peek through. It took a few more steps for two men to come into view. One was tall, thin, and long-limbed—and armed. The other was shorter and stocky, so his body pushed against much more of the trees around him as he moved.</p>
<p>“I’m not seeing anything,” the thickset one said.</p>
<p>“Yeah, me neither. But I’d rather keep looking around out here and leave the harder work to the others.”</p>
<p>“Heh, yeah, same. I can’t believe how hard it is to kill that thing. I even got a good stab right in its neck,” he said while poking into the side of his neck with a finger. “But basically <em>woosh!</em> It healed right up, like I never even touched it. Never seen one like that before.”</p>
<p>“Guess we just have to wait for it to die of hunger. Who knows how long that could take though . . . Well, at least we can drain out its magic in the meantime.”</p>
<p>“Mm. Man, can you imagine if it had <em>scales</em>? We’d be able to just pick them off, and then when it heals and grows them back, just pick ’em off again. It’d be an infinite supply!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, guess it was too good to work out that way. It’s slick as a sword.”</p>
<p>“And it’s got plates like armor on half its body.”</p>
<p>“Wonder what would happen if we tried pulling its teeth out.”</p>
<p>“Probably just turn to dust like any other piece of it we tear off.”</p>
<p>“Might be worth a try though.”</p>
<p>“Maybe. I’ll be happy to stand by and watch you stick a hand in its mouth.”</p>
<p>They continued leisurely as they chatted, and Yusei got a good look at one of their boots as they walked right by him. But they didn’t stop, and he could hear their voices get further away. He didn’t quite feel safe, but he at least let himself breathe a little more calmly.</p>
<p>And then he wondered what kind of beast they were talking about. They had mentioned it having magic, and that caught his interest. He had only encountered magic in the stories his mom had told him. It hurt his heart to hear that a magical creature was apparently being tortured by rogue bandits.</p>
<p>Yusei’s back ached from lying so stiff and still for so long. He began to roll so he could get out from under the bushes and stretch. But when we reached out a hand to hold himself up off the ground, his palm planted down on a dry, sharp thistle. He yelped before he could stop himself, but he gagged the rest of his pain back down his throat and went still, even with the prickly bulb stuck into his skin. He listened hard through the blood rushing in his ears, but he couldn’t hear any sign of the two men coming back.</p>
<p>After a long, torturing moment, he relaxed a little, then carefully pulled the thistle out and flicked it away. There were a few drops of blood in his hand where he had been pricked, so he pushed into the wounds with his opposite thumb to dull the sting.</p>
<p>But it was something else that distracted him from it.</p>
<p>With a rough yank, a hand lifted Yusei off the ground by the neck of his shirt and held him high enough for his feet to dangle in the air. The front of his shirt wrinkled tight around his throat, choking him, and he kicked his legs while grasping at the noose.</p>
<p>“The hell are you doing here?” The man didn’t sound like either of the other two. A third one had apparently snuck up on him from behind. “Ugh, you’re <em>filthy</em>. Oh. Waaaait. Yeah, I know. You came from Satellite, didn’t you? Heh, so a kid like you managed to escape all that fire, huh?”</p>
<p>Yusei just kept kicking and struggling. Even if he had wanted to answer back, the assault on his throat made it too difficult. He reached up with both hands to grasp the man’s fist to try to at least pull himself up off his shirt, if not pry it open and free himself. The stranger mercifully set him back on his feet, but then with a sharp strike, he hacked into Yusei’s neck with the side of his hand, sending him falling to the ground.</p>
<p>When Yusei came back to himself and opened his eyes, he found his hands tied behind him, his arms wrapped around an upright log sticking up out of the dirt. His head and neck still ached, and he very much wanted to rub the soreness. But his hands were set in place tight, so he could only helplessly flex his fingers.</p>
<p>He looked around from where he sat on the ground. By the light of a campfire, he could see he was in a small clearing inside the forest, along with some unsavory individuals, all armed with multiple and various weapons. Mostly blades, but also hammers and other bludgeoning tools.</p>
<p>Yusei recognized them. The red fabric tied around their left arms meant they were the gang that had set the fire. So he had ended up caught by them anyway, even after all that running, even after his mother’s urging. His disappointment felt heavy on his shoulders. Though, it did strike him as odd that he was alive. Their chaotic fires had made it seem like they weren’t interested in taking prisoners.</p>
<p>In any case, at the moment, they weren’t interested in him at all. The whole lot of them were looking together in the same direction, and Yusei followed their gaze. He had to turn his head hard over his shoulder to find what they were looking at.</p>
<p>And it was a dragon.</p>
<p>A whole, living, <em>real</em> dragon.</p>
<p>Yusei sucked in a breath. It was huge, its leathery skin whiter than a summerday cloud, and around it was a faint white glow, like the halo around the white moon. But it was unsteady, fluctuating between soft and imperceptible, like a weak candle compared to the campfire. Large plates of natural armor on its shoulders and breast shone silver-blue. Its wings were folded against its back like a cloak. When its lips rippled, he saw the jagged razors that could bite right through any of the men if given the chance.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it was chained down and bolted to a large plank set on a dozen sturdy wheels. All the iron used in the trap glowed faintly with a green network of capillaries that all flowed to a single, heavy padlock, on which a black and green stone was set. Wherever the iron touched the dragon, thin fumes hissed up as the skin beneath eroded. But just as one layer burned away, a new layer was already knitting together, only to be burned away next under the acidic touch.</p>
<p>One chain was wrapped tight around the dragon’s snout, making it impossible for it to open its mouth. It could only growl in the depths of its long throat to express its pain and ire. Similarly, its wings, claws, and tail were also chained down to prevent most movement, save for the back-and-forth flick of its tail’s double-bladed tip. Yusei could see the chains tighten with every breath that expanded the dragon’s body and hear the vibration as the dragon groaned to itself. The creature seemed exhausted. Yusei wondered if that was another effect of the magicked chains or if the dragon had worn itself out from trying to break free.</p>
<p>“This sure was one tough sucker,” a man said, sounding like he had just come home from a hard day’s work. “I mean <em>damn</em>, ten whole men to get him? That’s crazy!”</p>
<p>“Twelve,” another corrected. “Ten to hit him with the magic bolt, and two to throw the net when he fell.”</p>
<p>“Right, right,” the first nodded.</p>
<p>“Kinda funny that we had to use his own magic against him like that.”</p>
<p>“Heh, yeah! Just do a little short-circuiting and <em>tzzz</em> they’re done!”</p>
<p>“It won’t be funny until we get enough money out of it to cover our losses.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, and we <em>better</em>. We can’t get anything off him to sell, so we just gotta hope those crystal balls can hold enough of the pure stuff when we start extracting.”</p>
<p>Then the man who had found Yusei glanced over his shoulder toward him. Yusei stiffened when their eyes met, but then the man turned back to his group. “Maybe we can make a little something selling the kid,” he suggested.</p>
<p>More eyes turned to peer at him. Yusei went stiff.</p>
<p>“Kinda skinny isn’t he?”</p>
<p>Then his skin went cold and he felt sweat begin to trickle down the back of his neck. When the man began to approach him, he straightened his back against the post and clenched his jaw. The man bent his knees until he was crouched low enough to have his eyes level with Yusei’s. He prodded Yusei’s shoulder with a finger. “Yeah, a scrawny thing like you wouldn’t go for much. You don’t get to eat much in Satellite, do you? Wonder how many times you had dirt for dinner.” He said it with a smirk, but Yusei refused to be provoked. He kept his lips tight and just glared back.</p>
<p>“Heh, look at you, acting cool and brave. I know you can run and hide, but what else can you do?”</p>
<p>The man reached behind to his belt and pulled out a knife. Yusei’s vision throbbed as his pulse beat inside his eyes. The man waved the knife tauntingly in front of Yusei’s face, showing teeth in his smirk. And then he set a knee down to the ground and reach around to cut the ropes around Yusei’s wrists. Yusei’s arms lurched forward and he looked up at the man suspiciously. But the man flipped the knife in his hand so he was holding the blade between his fingers and extending the hilt toward Yusei.</p>
<p>“Can you fight?”</p>
<p>Yusei eyed the knife, then looked into the man’s face.</p>
<p>“Are you even willing to try?”</p>
<p>Yusei worked his jaw, and then he swiped the knife from the man. He intended to quickly launch the blade into the man’s eye, but before he could even start the motion, the man already had his wrist in his hand.</p>
<p>“Guess you’re pretty quick,” he conceded before throwing Yusei by his wrist a meter away. Yusei’s face and arms got scuffed, but he didn’t waste the momentum and used it to jump onto his feet. Then like his mother, he gripped the hilt with both hands and faced his opponent directly. The man stood up leisurely and chuckled. Then he waved for Yusei to come.</p>
<p>“Show me what you’ve got. I’m ready.”</p>
<p>Yusei measured the man with his eyes and wondered if he could really do anything. He knew he was being toyed with, but if they underestimated him enough, maybe he could cause some damage. Even if it was just one of them, it might feel good to land a hit.</p>
<p>He didn’t think a straight attack would work, it would be too easy for the man to read. But what else could he do while being watched like that? He began to circle the man, who looked at him with the mildest curiosity. Then Yusei made his decision and darted forward. He made a move to strike at the man’s leg, and then when he began his counter move, Yusei darted sideways out of reach and where he could slice across the man’s side before darting back again, still holding the knife.</p>
<p>“Huh.” The man looked down to inspect the cut in his shirt and skin. He ran his fingertips over it and rubbed the blood that came away. “Well, I guess that’s not nothing.” He wiped the blood from his fingers onto his pants and then strode toward Yusei, unconcerned by the knife pointing at him. Yusei began to step backward, planning to use his back foot to launch forward again when the man was close enough.</p>
<p>When he did, the man simply caught Yusei’s wrist and yanked him up into the air as high as he could. Yusei grunted and began kicking, but the man was unmoving like a tree. Then he squeezed Yusei’s wrist harder and harder until he yelped and dropped the knife. “You probably could have made something of yourself,” the man said. “Bit of a shame. Oh well. Guess you’re just unlucky.”</p>
<p>The man swung Yusei into the post he had been tied to hard enough to knock the air from his lungs before letting him drop to the ground. Yusei coughed and gagged trying to breathe again, and then the man kicked him in the chest to roll him onto his back. Yusei coughed up into the air, and when he tried to roll onto his side, a boot stepped down onto his chest and applied enough pressure to hold him down.</p>
<p>Yusei instinctively gripped at the man’s ankle with both hands to try to push him off while he strained his neck, thrashing his head and legs.</p>
<p>“How many ribs do you think I can crack before you it kills you?” the man wondered while pushing down just a little harder.</p>
<p>Yusei hated it, but he couldn’t help but scream. It hurt, and he was afraid. He didn’t want to die—or at least, he didn’t want to die like <em>this</em>. It was too pathetic for him to bear. Through his scream he heard the dragon growl and the clinking of chains shifting, but the feeling of his bones squeezing his heart made it difficult for him to really notice.</p>
<p>“He-he-hey!” someone shouted with a laugh. “Check it out! I think maybe this big guy wants the kid for himself!”</p>
<p>“What?” another asked, like he had just heard something stupid.</p>
<p>“Yeah yeah! See him? I think he’s hungry!”</p>
<p>There were dubious sounds coming from some in the group, but a few took it as a challenge. “No he’s right! He’s definitely looking at the kid like he’s a snack.”</p>
<p>“How the hell can you tell something like that? With those creepy eyes?”</p>
<p>“Oh come on, you can’t tell? It’s <em>obvious</em>!”</p>
<p>“All right, if you’re so sure, let’s see.”</p>
<p>“Yeah! It’s a bet! We put the kid in front of him, and if he eats him, you owe me.”</p>
<p>“And if he doesn’t, you owe me.”</p>
<p>“Yo! Bring him over!” someone called.</p>
<p>The man stepping on Yusei sighed. “You guys are just gonna decide things on your own, huh?”</p>
<p>“You had your fun, now it’s our turn!”</p>
<p>Yusei looked up to see the man roll his eyes, but then the pressure on his chest was gone. He immediately sucked in a full breath, and when he felt a sting jolt his chest, he coughed and rolled onto his side before trying to breathe again, careful to keep his ribs from twinging too painfully.</p>
<p>And then his scalp burned as a hand took a fistful of his hair and yanked him up to his knees. Yusei screamed and then wheezed to get another breath. Then the man dropped his hair and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him into the waiting crowd and then the dragon beyond. Yusei flailed, but even with the sweat coating his skin, the man’s grip didn’t slip.</p>
<p>“Weren’t we starving the thing?” someone asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but come on, that kid’s not gonna do much for a dragon that big. He might as well eat a crumb.”</p>
<p>The man grabbed Yusei’s arm and twisted it up against his back while pulling on his hair to lift his face toward the dragon. “You ever seen a dragon, kid?” he asked close to Yusei’s ear. He hadn’t. He looked nervously into the eerie, pure gold eyes that stared back at him. No pupil or iris, just that solid gold dark against the luminescent white.</p>
<p>“One scale is worth more than you could ever make in your whole life,” the man continued, and the touch of his voice made Yusei’s skin prickle. “How about you see if you can get one off him before he bites you in half? If you do, I’ll let you go.” Yusei didn’t need to look to see the man’s cruel smile, he could hear it.</p>
<p>And he clenched his jaw.</p>
<p>“But, doesn’t anything we cut from him—<em>oof</em>!”</p>
<p>The man suddenly coughed as an elbow collided with his gut. Yusei didn’t need to hear the rest. He had already heard about the removed pieces turning to dust—and that this particular dragon didn’t even have scales anyway. He was just being toyed with again.</p>
<p>“Shouldn’t I get a knife for something like that?” Yusei muttered.</p>
<p>“Probably. Maybe you should have brought one with you from home. It’s not good to be unprepared. All right!” he shouted suddenly. “Is one of you gonna get those chains off his mouth or what?”</p>
<p>Three men jumped forward out of the group and carefully used some long hooks to roughly drag the chain looped around the dragon’s snout from a safe distance. When it was off, the dragon snapped dangerously, making the men jump backwards with a surprised shout. Yusei felt the snap of those teeth in his bones, and it made him sick.</p>
<p>The man holding him just laughed at his companions as they scrambled away. And then he said to Yusei, “All right, you’re up.” He shoved Yusei forward quick and hard, making him stumble down to all fours in the dirt. He was shaking from the combination of nausea, fear, and anger churning in his gut, and he slowly lifted his head. The dragon’s eyes were aimed intently on him, and Yusei stared back, mesmerized. There they were, two pitiful creatures, fellow captives with death right at their backs. Yusei’s heart bled for the dragon, but he couldn’t say how it felt about him.</p>
<p>Maybe it <em>was</em> looking forward to eating him.</p>
<p>But maybe he could convince it <em>not</em> to . . .</p>
<p>Yusei’s eyes shifted to the padlock, and all those years of learning from his father opened in his mind. The stone attached to it had an inhibition magic, which it conferred to the chains through its magnetic connection to the metal lock. Yusei knew that if he could remove the stone, the magic would stop flowing through the chains. It was the best idea he could think of—and it was thanks it to his father.</p>
<p>Yusei slowly stood up as the crowd chuckled and jeered behind him. Then he took a step toward the dragon, hoping his slow movement looked like hesitation to the humans watching him. To the dragon, he looked into those gold eyes, then flicked his own quickly to the lock and back, then again to the lock and back. <em>I’ll help you</em>, he mouthed, hoping that somehow the dragon could understand him.</p>
<p>The dragon made a slow blink, and Yusei felt his chest tighten. Did that mean what he hoped it meant?</p>
<p>He took a deep breath and stepped forward more.</p>
<p>“Hey kid!” someone called to his back. “Maybe see if you can pull a took out, huh?”</p>
<p>Yusei ignored him, though he was glad that they didn’t seem to see through his plan. He stepped closer and closer, and the dragon rustled its wings just slightly and flexed its muscles, causing the chains to bite into its body, but it merely winced while keeping its eyes hard on Yusei.</p>
<p>When he thought he was at a decent distance, Yusei took another deep, deep breath, then whispered, “Ok.” And he launched his whole body to the stone.</p>
<p>The men were right, he was skinny. And he was tired and aching. But he was also very, very desperate. With every muscled strained and reinforced by rage, he let out a wild shout and felt the stone, which was the size of his head, give under his force.</p>
<p>“Hey!” an unknown voice shouted.</p>
<p>“Hey get off that! Fuckin’ <em>moron</em>!”</p>
<p>Yusei heard the group start to rush toward him, but he kept pushing and rammed himself against the stone one—two times. And when the connection broke and the stone rolled away, Yusei fell with it.</p>
<p>And the dragon rose.</p>
<p>A roar, a chorus of screams, a gust of wind, an explosion as chains broke and the pieces hit against the surrounding trees with enough force to shatter them. Yusei heard everything at once and covered the back of his head with both arms while burying his face in the dirt. The men were running away now, screaming at each other to grab weapons, and to <em>go, go, go!!!</em> Yusei heard the wings flap and the air whoosh through the forest as he felt it bluster against his back and through his loose, torn shirt. He felt his body shiver not from the chill but from the unearthly vocals of the dragon’s outcry, a ghastly sound like nails scraping against metal sinking into his bones overlapped with a hoarse rasp. And he heard the plank and its many wheels break right next to him as the dragon pounded its claws down through the wood.</p>
<p>That made Yusei whip his head up, feeling an urgent need to run out of the way. But just as he was about to bolt, the dragon stepped over him. Yusei looked up to see the dragon’s belly hover above him as the dragon stood, its tail winding around in a serpentine motion. Yusei looked up and marveled as the dragon’s body expanded with a deep breath, and then he saw a blinding silver stream collide with the ground hard enough to form a crater. And as the light kept streaming, it cut a line through the ground toward the camp and decimated everything it touched. Every cart, every box, every weapon, every man. Once consumed by the light, only steam and ash were left. Yusei crouched beneath the dragon with his eyes closed tight and his hands pressed against his ears to save them from the enormous roar accompanying the light.</p>
<p>Eventually the annihilation ended, the light and roar both fading when there was nothing left of the enemy. The dragon then snorted, satisfied. When Yusei tentatively removed his hands and opened his eyes, he saw the dragon’s head peering at him from a long neck twisted down to its belly.</p>
<p>Yusei froze and stared. And while he was occupied with the dragon’s eyes, he felt a poke against his back and jumped with a yelp. The double-blade on the dragon’s tail was right next to him, and it waved. To Yusei, it seemed like an invitation, like someone calling to him with a curling finger. He looked back to the dragon’s eyes, which blinked slowly, and then back to the tail. He reached out a hand—slowly—and touched the sleek blade. He looked over his shoulder to the dragon’s eyes, and then used both his arms to hug the smooth part where the blade became a tail.</p>
<p>Then the dragon pulled Yusei out from underneath him and off the ground before lifting him up enough to stand on his feet. And then the dragon pulled up its neck and looked at Yusei from over its back. It blinked again, and then Yusei felt the tail wrap around his torso in a loop. That was when he first thought something might not be right, but before he could say anything, the dragon bent all four legs, spread its wings, and launched up. Yusei had just enough time to hug the tail again tight with both arms before the ground was dozens of meters below his feet.</p>
<p>With his cheek pressed hard against the sleek skin, he dared to peek his eyes open just a fraction, and he could see the forest whizzing by in a blur. It was still more than he could hear, which was nothing but the wind whistling against his ears. The dragon’s wings beat the air hard enough to make the trees below shake while its speed made the cold air rush against Yusei’s body—and he was glad that the dragon’s tail gripped him just as firmly as he gripped back.</p>
<p>But even though he felt secure, he was also fairly uncomfortable, so he was happy when the flight came to an end. The dragon had chosen a rocky ledge overlooking a stream surrounded by soft, green grass. It first landed on the ledge to give its wings enough space to flex and fold, then it crawled down to the space below, holding Yusei carefully in the air above its back. As the dragon made itself comfortable, folding its legs under its body, it lowered its tail and slowly released Yusei from its loop. Yusei found himself standing in front of the dragon, once again facing its golden eyes as they stared at each other. He could see the tail flicking about like a cat’s from the corner of his eye, but with the dragon staring at him so intently, he couldn’t bring himself to look anywhere else.</p>
<p>“Thank you.”</p>
<p>The male voice echoed in Yusei’s head. It didn’t reach him through his ears, it had simply appeared there between them. He jumped and his eyes went wide.</p>
<p>“I hate to admit it, but, you saved my life.”</p>
<p>Yusei stared with mouth open and reached up to rub his temple. “. . . Is that <em>you</em>?”</p>
<p>“Were you expecting someone else?”</p>
<p>“No, I just meant . . . I didn’t know you could talk. Like that.”</p>
<p>“Hm. Well, I guess you’re pretty young. I would have thought humans would teach their kids at least <em>that</em> much though.”</p>
<p>“I’ve heard stories,” Yusei said defensively, not of himself but of the parents who had educated him. “My mom told me. I know <em>some</em> things.”</p>
<p>The dragon eyed him, and Yusei was suddenly very aware of how he looked: ragged, dirty, and obviously <em>poor</em>. He wouldn’t be surprised if the dragon assumed he was an ignorant churl. “And not just about dragons,” he insisted. “I know a lot about magic too.”</p>
<p>The dragon seemed to accept this. “Mm. So I saw. I’m glad. And not just for that, but because you’re so brave and tough. You showing up must mean I’m pretty lucky.”</p>
<p>Hearing that gave Yusei the first warm glow in his heart he had felt since the fires started.</p>
<p>“I was thinking the same thing about you.”</p>
<p>The dragon laughed. “Of course you were. It’s <em>me</em>.”</p>
<p>Yusei marveled at how the dragon looked so healthy now. He couldn’t see a mark on him, no bruise or magic burn or anything. “So, what happened?” he asked curiously. “How’d they catch you?”</p>
<p>That turned the dragon’s pride into a scowl. “I just underestimated them. A mistake I’ll make sure to never repeat.”</p>
<p>“They said they shorted-circuit your magic,” Yusei remembered, his student brain seeking information to learn.</p>
<p>“Yeah, that’s right. It’s something they can only do with a device made by a witch. And if I ever find a witch that’s handing out magic to hunters, I’ll eat them <em>slowly</em>. Piece by piece.”</p>
<p>Yusei felt goosebumps prickle his skin as that growl vibrated down his spine.</p>
<p>“How about you?” the dragon then asked. “How’d they catch <em>you</em>?”</p>
<p>Yusei’s eyes dropped and he looked away. “Well . . . First they burned down my village,” he said, his voice heavy. “Then while we were trying to get out, they killed my parents. I ran, but then they found me where I was hiding.”</p>
<p>The dragon lifted his neck as high as it would reach. He remembered seeing smoke after rising into the air. He looked for it again and found the cloud hanging above an area of the forest in the distance. It seemed so small from where he was. Calm and harmless. How deceptive.</p>
<p>He looked back down to the child and felt a kind of kinship with him. Humans had hunted him and his family down, just like they had done to himself and his kind, destroying so much and so many lives in the process. His tail flickered back and forth as steam seeped from his nostrils.</p>
<p>After a long moment he asked, “So, does that mean you’re alone?”</p>
<p>Yusei felt the weight of those words slam against his chest. Alone. Yes, alone. And by definition, an orphan. He reached a hand up and pressed the palm against the pain bruising his heart.</p>
<p>“I . . .”</p>
<p>He tried to speak, but his voice broke. Instead he dropped to his knees. His chest got tighter and tighter until he could barely breathe. Pressure built up in his head, and his whole face got hot. His lips trembled, and then the ground below him blurred.</p>
<p><em>“It’s ok to cry,”</em> his mother’s voice cooed in his head, though it sounded like he was hearing her from underwater. <em>“Even heroes cry sometimes.”</em></p>
<p>His mouth opened, but his voice only came out as a creak. Tears starting rolling fast down from his eyes to his nose, where they then dripped down into the grass. He clenched his teeth hard, but that couldn’t stop his voice from jumping out of his tight lungs in weak sobs.</p>
<p><em>“If you have to cry, then cry,”</em> she continued, and he could feel her ghost holding him in her arms and rocking him back and forth<em>. “Just make sure you do something more than that when you have to, ok?”</em></p>
<p>His whole body ached and shook. He felt like he would break apart, like whatever force was holding him together would soon run out and he would simply crumble like soft gravel. He didn’t like how it felt. He had never liked how it felt to cry, but this was the worst, and the tolerance he had built up throughout his life for pain couldn’t stand up this much. This wasn’t a bruise from a fall or a scrape from a fistfight or an insult from a bully that he could brush off without so much as a wince. This was so much bigger and cut so much deeper.</p>
<p><em>“I don’t want to cry,”</em> he heard the echoes of his own voice sniffle back. <em>“I want to be so strong I won’t cry!”</em></p>
<p>His mother pat his head with a patient smile. <em>“Well, maybe you can be so strong that won’t feel like crying over most things, but don’t get so hard you can’t feel anything at all.”</em></p>
<p>He didn’t want to feel. He didn’t want to feel this pain. He didn’t want to feel this loss. But he couldn’t deny that he had lost something precious, and he thought that maybe if he didn’t let himself feel this pain, he would be disrespecting the parents it represented. If he loved them so much, didn’t that make them worth crying for?</p>
<p>Even if he argued with himself about it, there was no holding it back. He would either survive the flood surging through him, or it really would crush him with a weight his body and heart couldn’t withstand.</p>
<p>The dragon watched him. He recognized that heartbreak. He was well-familiar with it. And he knew there was nothing anyone could do about it. So he just sat there, still and quiet, to let it run its course. Such a shame that the one decent human he knew should come to know grief like this, and at such a young age.</p>
<p>After some time—the dragon didn’t measure, he was ancient and patient—the boy’s sobs had quieted to sniffling. He looked up at the dragon with red, swollen eyes and said in a mangled voice, “I don’t understand.” He meant it to mean that there were so many things he <em>could</em> understand. He had been taught so much and figured out even more through his own experimenting. So much about the world made sense once you knew the mechanics. It was satisfying, even beautiful in a way to see all the pieces work together. But this? This was ugly and senseless.</p>
<p>“<em>Why</em>?” he moaned. “Why do people kill?” He wondered more than that: Why were people cruel? Why did they destroy? Why did they take so much and feel no remorse? But he couldn’t quite control his voice enough to speak it all aloud.</p>
<p>As he wiped his wet and dirty face with both hands, he felt a small wind brush against him and a darkness surround him. He looked up to find the dragon’s wings set in a protective circle around him and the dragon’s head bowed low toward him.</p>
<p>“That’s something even I still don’t know,” the dragon answered sadly.</p>
<p>Yusei felt heavy. Even if he was done crying, he wanted to just lie down. But he knew better than that. He felt his parents still urging him, encouraging him to keep going, to keep finding the potential in everything he encountered. And he tried to latch onto that. Yusei was now like the discards he found abandoned on his scrounging adventures: where others would look at him and see dirty, useless junk, Yusei would find potential, a place, a purpose.</p>
<p>The dragon didn’t see him as junk. Despite his calm demeanor, inside he was burning, and he had decided: he wasn’t going to abandon this child. And not just because he owed him back, but because this one was a good one. He couldn’t let it go to waste, not if there was to be any hope for humans. One day, they might get wiped out in a storm of revenge by the surviving dragons, which wouldn’t be much of a tragedy, but the dragon remembered the days when humans and dragons had co-existed, and some part of him was nostalgic enough to wish for them to return. Maybe he could at least keep <em>this</em> one around and make sure he grew up right.</p>
<p>“What do you want to do now?” the dragon asked.</p>
<p>The boy thought for a moment. As he did, he remembered the day he had first seen his parents cry. It had been the middle of the night, and he had crept to their room, wanting to crawl into bed with them. But he came to a halt outside their door when he heard their muffled voices. He peeked through a crack in the door and saw them, holding each other, comforting each other as they each shed their own tears. It had shaken him. It was the most jarring thing he had ever experienced before now. It was the first time his parents had become real people to him and not just unshakable pillars he looked up to with awe.</p>
<p>He still didn’t know why they had been crying. He had never asked. He had even tried to forget it. But he didn’t want to forget anything about them anymore. He wanted to carry them with him and make them proud.</p>
<p>He looked into the dragon’s eyes. “I want to get stronger.”</p>
<p>“For what?”</p>
<p><em>“So I won’t cry anymore!”</em> his younger self insisted.</p>
<p>But no, this was so much bigger than him.</p>
<p>“So I can help people. So I can stop bad people from hurting others.”</p>
<p>
  <em>So no one has to cry anymore.</em>
</p>
<p>The dragon smiled, but from the outside it looked like a threatening show of teeth. Yusei didn’t flinch. “Ah, so you want to be a hero, huh?”</p>
<p>
  <em>“My little hero . . .”</em>
</p>
<p>Yusei clenched his jaw and nodded. “Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Mmm. All right, let’s see what we can do about that.”</p>
<p>“We?”</p>
<p>“Of course. You don’t think you’d make it very far without me, do you?”</p>
<p>“Well, no, but . . . I didn’t think—”</p>
<p>“Do you <em>want</em> me to leave you alone?”</p>
<p>“NO!”</p>
<p>“Heh, good. That’s that, then. Except for introductions. I’ll go first. My name’s Stardust. What’s yours?”</p>
<p>Yusei’s heart raced as he said, “I’m Yusei. Yusei Fudo.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>***</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Aki was worried. It had been days, and there wasn’t much time left before her mentor would return from his trip. He wasn’t fond of people, so she had a feeling he wouldn’t like coming home to find unfamiliar guests. Ideally the knight and his dragon would leave soon and she would have enough time to clean up and erase all evidence of their stay, and toward that end, she tried to keep up with what she could in the meantime to save herself from a giant task later.</p>
<p>By now, Yusei was strong enough to walk without staggering anymore. Stardust was always close by, keeping a cautious eye and ear out for any sign of approaching humans. She had told him that no one had ever come there in all the years she had lived in the forest, but the dragon refused to relax. So Aki let him do as he would.</p>
<p>In the open air, she picked up wet sheets one by one from her wicker basket, flapped them out, and then laid them over a rope to dry. Not far off, sitting on a rock, Yusei worked polishing his armor. Or at least the pieces he had been able to repair himself. Some were so beat up they would have to be remade from scratch.</p>
<p>Crow was going to be <em>thrilled</em> about that.</p>
<p>Yusei smiled to himself, already able to hear his friend’s exaggerated voice squawking in his head. Yusei held an arm plate up to glint in the sun while inspecting it with one eye, and then he continued polishing.</p>
<p>After Aki had finished filling her ropes with clean laundry, she picked up her empty basket to take it back into the house. But she paused and looked back to the dragon, who was staring off with his neck held high, and then to the knight, who by then was polishing his sword. She kept watching as he stood up and gave it a few testing swings. She heard the whoosh from where she stood as it sliced the air. Then he switched to a slower exercise, carefully drawing curved lines in front of him with a precision Aki didn’t quite understand. She could only observe his motions as he stood with his feet spread apart and his knees bent, keeping him steady and firmly in place. He had both hands on the hilt but set so that they didn’t touch.</p>
<p>When she realized she was observing such details because she was staring, she shook herself out of it and went inside to return her basket to its place. But she could help returning outside. Yusei was sitting down again, checking the balance of his sword by holding it up flat with two fingers. She walked up to him as he concentrated, but his senses were keen enough again that he noticed her long before she arrived.</p>
<p>“Would I be bothering you if I asked you something?”</p>
<p>“Not at all,” he answered, taking his sword by the hilt again to run a gloved finger lightly over the edge of the blade.</p>
<p>“What made you want to be a knight?”</p>
<p>Yusei paused and looked up from his sword to her. For such a seemingly simple question, she looked anxious.</p>
<p>“Why do you ask?”</p>
<p>“I guess because you don’t really fit the image I had of what a knight was like.”</p>
<p>“What do you think knights are like?”</p>
<p>“Well, to put it bluntly, power-hungry bullies who like having the authority to kill as they please and say it’s in the name of the king.”</p>
<p>Yusei stared at her with a sober expression. “There might be some like that,” he admitted. “That wasn’t my reason though.”</p>
<p>“What was?”</p>
<p>“I wanted to protect people. I wanted to help those who need it and prevent as much suffering as I could.”</p>
<p>“‘People,’” she repeated softly.</p>
<p>“I don’t just mean humans,” he clarified. “I mean anyone facing an injustice. Human. Dragon. Witch.” He said the last part quietly while looking earnestly into her eyes.</p>
<p>She couldn’t hold that gaze for too long. She looked away. “But doesn’t protecting humans put the others in danger?”</p>
<p>“I don’t judge anyone by their race,” he declared. “Not all humans are cruel. And some cruel beliefs just need to be unlearned. I see each person for who they are and work with that.”</p>
<p>Then she asked softly, “Have you ever killed someone?”</p>
<p>He paused, but without shrinking from the truth, he answered directly. “Yes.”</p>
<p>“How did it feel?”</p>
<p>He sat very still. “It feels like a shame. Every time. So many things could have gone differently to avoid it. And sometimes I wonder if<em> I</em> could have done anything differently.”</p>
<p>“But you would have been fighting a bad guy, right? So don’t you think they deserved it?”</p>
<p>Yusei sighed. “I think it’s too much of a responsibility for me to decide who deserves to die. I want to help people <em>live</em>, and live <em>better</em>. Killing is the last resort, and I never enjoy it.”</p>
<p>“But don’t you get <em>angry</em> when people hurt others? How can you not think the world would be better without them?”</p>
<p>Yusei looked into her eyes, which were insistent and pained.</p>
<p>“Maybe it would,” he admitted. “But, I’d like to think the world can also be better if people get the chance to change. I don’t want to blow out lives like a candle, I want to help people shine brighter.”</p>
<p>Aki worked her jaw. “That’s a pretty thing to say,” she murmured. “But maybe some people are too hurt to accept living with those who hurt them.”</p>
<p>Yusei thought to that day in the forest. If Stardust hadn’t already obliterated all those men, he couldn’t say for sure he would be satisfied to see them still alive.</p>
<p>“You’re probably right,” he agreed. Then he shook his head. “No, I’m sure you’re right.”</p>
<p>“So how else can you give justice to someone like that?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” he admitted again. “But I hope I can find out some day.”</p>
<p>Yusei wasn’t so naïve to think that no one was beyond hope. He knew there were people so twisted and corrupted that they would never be able to change their ways. They would never choose the path of redemption, nor ever be worthy of forgiveness. They were beyond the transformative touch of compassion and too proud to concede to someone else’s view. But he wanted to believe there were fewer of those people than it seemed, including the people who felt too wounded to forgive those who repented. Including himself.</p>
<p>“Why?” she asked after a moment of silence. “Why does that matter so much to you?”</p>
<p>He sat forward with his knees on his elbows and his fingers pressed together. He stared at nothing, just an empty space straight ahead, thinking.</p>
<p>“I guess because . . . I see value in every life. There are some people in this world I love, some I simply know, and some I’ll never meet. But we’re all connected. And even the people I don’t know are loved by someone and have those they love. It hurts to lose something you love. When I see others feel that hurt, I remember how it feels as well. And there’s no need for it. I feel connected to people by their pain, but it would be so much better to feel connected by joy. And there’s <em>every</em> reason to work for a world like that. So that’s what I do.”</p>
<p>Aki also stared off into space to think. He was a beautiful idealist, and she felt a doleful weight in her chest as her pessimism made it impossible to believe such a world was possible.</p>
<p>“You must have a lot of stamina,” she said, trying to maintain the positive note he had ended on.</p>
<p>He looked at her curiously. “Well, I do get a lot of exercise.”</p>
<p>She laughed and shook her head. “No, I meant stamina in your heart. You would have to have a lot to be able to keep thinking that way after seeing so much out there.”</p>
<p>“Ah,” Yusei replied with a smile. “Maybe I’m just stubborn.”</p>
<p>“Oh you <em>definitely</em> are,” Stardust quipped without turning his head. “You’re so stubborn you don’t even die when a normal person would.”</p>
<p>“I won’t apologize for that.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t say it was a flaw. I was just confirming the truth.”</p>
<p>Yusei snorted a laugh.</p>
<p>Aki smiled too, grateful for the change of pace, and joined in. “And stubborn enough to keep working even when you still need time to recover.”</p>
<p>“I’m feeling fine though,” Yusei insisted. “I’m not good at doing nothing.”</p>
<p>“I can believe that.”</p>
<p>He picked up his sword and stabbed it straight into the ground so he could lean on it, then tilted his head up to look at the clear midday sky. “It’s nice here. It seems like a peaceful place to live.”</p>
<p>“It is.”</p>
<p>“Do you ever get lonely, living by yourself?”</p>
<p>“Oh . . . Well, the thing is . . . I actually don’t live alone.”</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” she nodded, tugging at her fingers. “This is my mentor’s house, really. He lets me live with him so we can both be safe. He’s just been out on a trip. He does that sometimes. He’ll be gone for days or weeks, sometimes longer, and I’ll stay to take care of things here. But I don’t get lonely then. The garden and the forest have enough life in it to keep me company.”</p>
<p>Yusei cast his eyes over the abundant flowers bursting with color around the cottage. He couldn’t see them the way Aki did, shining with light flowing through their green arteries. He was blind to their magic, but he knew enough about it to understand that it was there and that a witch like Aki would resonate with it.</p>
<p>“That’s good,” he said. “I’d hate to think of you here alone and sad.”</p>
<p>A small heat rose to her face and she looked away, but with a smile.</p>
<p>“When will your mentor be back?”</p>
<p>“I’m not sure, but I imagine within the next few days. It really depends on how long it takes him to finish whatever it is he’s doing, but when he left he said it should only take him three weeks. And that was just about three weeks ago.”</p>
<p>“I see. In that case, we should probably get going. I don’t want to impose on him.”</p>
<p>To be honest, Aki was relieved he felt that way. She didn’t want to have to explain everything to her mentor if she could avoid it. It would just make everything easier to not have to go over the whole long story with him, and that way she could keep the secret to herself. But she also felt a kind of ache at the thought of Yusei leaving. She swallowed when her throat got too tight for her to speak.</p>
<p>Yusei stood up from the rock and looked straight toward her. “Thank you. Again. For all your hospitality and care. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate you, Aki.”</p>
<p>While Aki was feeling her whole head get hot, Stardust added, “And thanks for saving his life!”</p>
<p>Yusei rolled his eyes. “Don’t say it like I forgot.”</p>
<p>“Well how am I supposed to know if you didn’t mention it?”</p>
<p>“Could you maybe be quiet for <em>just</em> a minute?” Yusei bantered, looking over his shoulder.</p>
<p>“Fine, fine. Go on, keep talking like I’m not here and can’t hear everything you say.”</p>
<p>Yusei looked back to Aki with a smile and rolled his eyes. <em>Sorry</em>, he mouthed to her, and she giggled. <em>It’s fine</em>, she mouthed back. Then he held out a hand to her. She looked at it, brows rising. “May I?” he asked.</p>
<p>She was so flustered she almost couldn’t think of a reply. “No—I mean yes. Yes,” she said quickly, reaching her hand out to meet his. He took hold and gave her hand a squeeze.</p>
<p>“I hope you know you have a friend out there,” he said while looking into her eyes. “Two if you feel like counting <em>him</em>.” She laughed after he gestured toward the dragon with a flick of his head. “And if you need anything, even just some company, I’ll be there for you.”</p>
<p>She bit her bottom lip and forced herself to not look away, even though her shy heart sorely wanted to. “And if you ever need some peace and a place to rest, you’re always welcome back here.”</p>
<p>He nodded, smiling. “Deal.” He squeezed her hand once more, and that was it.</p>
<p>He helped her tidy up the house while collecting his few belongings, putting on the parts of his armor that could still function and tying the rest into a bundle he would give to Crow. And then Aki stood in the garden to watch Yusei mount onto Stardust’s shoulders. He waved at her. She waved back. Then the gusts from Stardust’s flapping wings rustled her dress and the flowers around her, and as they rose up through the clearing in the trees, she felt her heart sink.</p>
<p>She was alone again, but it felt different from the times her mentor left. Maybe because she knew he would always come back. Maybe because Yusei was . . . special, somehow. Not just because he was friends with a dragon, but special to <em>her</em>. In particular.</p>
<p>Maybe.</p>
<p>But it also seemed likely that she would never see either of them again. It was a short-lived but beautiful friendship, and she would hold it close to her heart for the rest of her life.</p>
<p>She sat on the grass under a tall pine tree and laid down, and the flowers leaned toward her for gentle kisses against her body and face. Staring up, she began to wonder about so many things. Yusei was a knight with no magic, but he was determined to change the world. His ideal was enough to motivate him to fight, even with all the odds against him. Meanwhile here she was, isolating herself from the world when she had enough magic to heal people from the brink of death. But she lacked that motivation that Yusei had in abundance. She lacked his hope and his optimism. Perhaps she even lacked his ability to love. Maybe she was too afraid, too angry for that.</p>
<p>But he stirred something in her. Some kind of desire. Some kind of wonder.</p>
<p>
  <em>What if . . . ?</em>
</p>
<p>She lifted a hand and waved her fingers, and more buds rose from the earth and sprouted into full blooming flowers. One flower rose right into the palm of her hand and she stroked it gently with her thumb. She could do such beautiful things with ease.</p>
<p>And she could also kill.</p>
<p>She <em>had</em> killed.</p>
<p>It was better to be alone. The humans were right to fear her. This kept them <em>both</em> safe.</p>
<p>She wondered what Yusei would have said if she had told him. He said when <em>he</em> killed, it was a last resort. He only killed when he couldn’t think of any other way to protect someone else. She hadn’t killed for anything noble like that. It had been ugly. Terrible. Unforgiveable.</p>
<p>There were too many unforgiveable things in this world. Some because they were too heinous, and some because there was no one who could offer the forgiveness.</p>
<p>Aki carried the weight of both.</p>
<p>Not even her mentor had forgiven her. He had simply said it wasn’t necessary and had taken her in to teach her more ways to use—and control—her magic. To turn it from a curse into a skill. But secretly, Aki wanted forgiveness. And secretly, she believed she didn’t deserve it. So she lived without it and let her mentor take over her life. It was easier to live when he thought for her. Without him, she thought painful things.</p>
<p>A witch himself, he could understand her and teach her things about magic that no one else could. His natural abilities weren’t as powerful as hers, but still, he knew how to control his magic and how to explain it in a way that she could understand. And he believed in her potential and encouraged her like no one else did—like no human <em>wanted</em> to.</p>
<p>Her success with Yusei was proof that his guidance had been effective. He was a good mentor. She owed him so much. But she wasn’t sure she could learn how to live a satisfying life from him. At least, that hadn’t been his priority so far. He focused on developing her skills, but without ever discussing a purpose to put them toward. Did he even have one in mind? Or was he teaching her magic for magic’s sake? She wasn’t sure. But maybe she could ask him when he got home . . .</p>
<p>Her body and senses began to tingle. She went stiff, then quickly sat up. She knew these vibrations. She smiled as she jumped to her feet. There, she could see a figure approaching through the trees, and she dashed to meet it.</p>
<p>“Sayer!” she greeted loudly, waving her whole arm. “You’re back!”</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. quoque tu, Brute?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"<em><strong>Betrayal is common for men without a conscience." - Toba Beta</strong></em></p>
<p>"You're back earlier than I expected," Aki noted as Sayer opened the creaking front door.</p>
<p>"Don't tell me you're <em>disappointed</em>," he replied with mock offense before laying all his heavy luggage on the floor.</p>
<p>"No no!" She waved both her hands quickly. "I was just wondering what brought you back so soon."</p>
<p>She said that, but inside she was a sigh of pure relief. Had he returned just a few hours before now, Sayer would have found an official knight of the kingdom—complete with his armor and weapon—taking refuge in his home and a dragon taller than two of their cottage stacked together standing like a sentry in the garden. As much as she knew her mentor felt a kind of awe for the beasts, she also knew he didn't like surprises. Whether being greeted by an unknown dragon would be more of a delight or a disturbance for him, Aki didn't want to take the risk to find out.</p>
<p>"Does it mean that your trip went <em>well</em>, or . . . ?"</p>
<p>"Or was it an utter failure? Yes, unfortunately."</p>
<p>"Oh, what happened?"</p>
<p>"I was gone mostly to receive some items I had ordered. But they were never delivered as promised. I can only assume something went wrong with the people I had arranged to transport them."</p>
<p>"Do you think they stole it?"</p>
<p>"No, I highly doubt that," he said confidently. "Actually, I was hearing rumors that some magical items were confiscated recently, and that probably includes the crystals I wanted. Well, I'm not surprised the royalty would want to claim anything magical they come across for themselves," he said with a bitter sting and then muttered to himself, "Selfish, greedy thieves."</p>
<p>Aki didn't know the full details of why Sayer hated the king—and by association, anyone close to him or inside his castle—but she knew enough to believe his reasons were valid. She was even ready to hate the king herself on his behalf.</p>
<p>"What I want to know is what happened," he continued. "Are the king's soldiers doing even more thorough inspections on people's cargo so they can declare anything shiny they find unauthorized and seize it?" He scoffed with disgust. "Probably. I guess I'll have to take even <em>more</em> precautions if I'm ever going to get a delivery again."</p>
<p>Aki wasn't sure what else to say except, "I'm sorry."</p>
<p>Sayer shrugged. "That's the way they are. I just have to keep outsmarting them."</p>
<p>"Right," she agreed with a nod.</p>
<p>"And it wasn't a <em>complete</em> waste of time. I did get <em>something</em> from all my trouble."</p>
<p>"Oh?" Aki asked excitedly as Sayer reached into his backpack, and she stepped closer to get a better look at the gloves he pulled out. At first they just looked like a pair of normal, dark leather gloves, but when he started to put them on, she saw that on their back sides were several half-spheres of crystallized stone embedded into the leather, five smaller ones over the knuckles and a sixth larger one centered on the back of each hand. To her eyes they were clearly magical, but she couldn't say what kind of power they granted the wearer.</p>
<p>"I got these in a trade for an old manual I had with me. I had it memorized anyway so it was worth the deal. I've been able to practice a bit with them already," Sayer explained while flexing his gloved fingers. "They're a bit difficult, so I'm going to have to work with them more to really get the hang of it. But I'll do that in between my study hours."</p>
<p>Aki knew what he meant by that. "You spend so much time with that book," she said admiringly.</p>
<p>"It's fascinating," he answered with hungry eyes. "Definitely the most interesting book I've ever read."</p>
<p>"Are you learning a lot of useful things from it?" She asked because he didn't tell her much about it, and she assumed that if it had valuable information for witches like them, he would share it with her. He was her mentor after all. So if he wasn't telling her, what was he gaining from it?</p>
<p>"Maybe, maybe not. At the very least it's fueling my curiosity. Whether what it says is <em>useful </em>depends on if I ever meet a dragon. And you know how likely <em>that</em> is."</p>
<p>For a moment Aki went stiff, wondering if this was a hint that he was, in fact, aware of the dragon that had been here, and that he was giving her a chance to speak up first. But, no, that had to just be paranoia. How could he know? . . . . . But what if he <em>did</em>?</p>
<p>"And even if you <em>did</em> defy the odds and meet a dragon, there's still the high likelihood that it'll kill you. Not that I blame them. If <em>I</em> was a dragon, I know I'd kill any humans I met. Hell, I'd go straight to the castle and burn the whole thing down."</p>
<p>Aki could tell by his face that he was being serious. But then he sighed to lighten the mood.</p>
<p>"Oh well. But anyway, how about you? How have you been?"</p>
<p>"Uhhhh," she said, giving herself a delay to think of an answer. "Good, I guess. It was pretty quiet around here so, you know, I worked in the garden, cleaned the house, practiced magic. The usual."</p>
<p>"That so?"</p>
<p>"Yeah, pretty much."</p>
<p>"Hm."</p>
<p>"What?" she asked, unnerved by his skepticism.</p>
<p>"Well, I thought you might know something about something odd I saw on the way here."</p>
<p>"What's that?"</p>
<p>"I was coming through the forest, and not too far from here there's a huge crater I've never seen before. It looked like something <em>massive</em> fell and landed there, and it wiped out all the trees right around it. I would think whatever happened, you would have been able to hear it from here."</p>
<p>He looked at her expectantly, and Aki felt her heart pound in response.</p>
<p>"Well, there was one night I heard something loud, but I thought it was thunder, so I didn't give it much thought."</p>
<p>"Hm." He looked at her, and she could feel herself cracking under the pressure of his gaze. She didn't know if he knew she was lying, but there was enough of a possibility that her guilt surged.</p>
<p>"Ok, ok!" she said, breaking. "That's not true. I know what happened. I'm sorry, it's just it's a long crazy story and I didn't want it to turn into a whole big <em>thing</em> and I was worried you'd be mad if you knew so I was going to just pretend it never happened."</p>
<p>"You can tell me anything," he said reassuringly. "I'm here to help you, you know. What kind of mentor does it make me if you think you have to hide things from me?"</p>
<p>"I didn't <em>want</em> to hide anything from you," she insisted, feeling hot and ashamed. "I just . . . thought it would be <em>easier</em> that way." It sounded pitiful to her own ears, and she was embarrassed that she had been afraid of Sayer instead of eager to share with him.</p>
<p>"Ah, I see. Well, what happens when you only do what's easy?" he asked with a smile.</p>
<p>And like a trigger, his question released the lesson from her memory in a flash. "You don't grow," she recited.</p>
<p>"Exactly. So come on, I've been on my feet all day. Let's sit down and you can tell me the whole long, crazy story."</p>
<p>Aki sighed with relief and nodded. "Ok. I'll get you something to drink too."</p>
<p>"Thank you."</p>
<p>She went to the kitchen and then brought him back a pitcher full of freshly squeezed juice and a cup, placing it on the table in front of his favorite chair—which he had carved himself with magic years ago. She sat across from him in a chair so padded she sank into the cushion, but she liked it that way. She pulled her legs up and crossed them, and then rested her folded her hands on her ankles. She took a deep breath to relax and thought of how to begin. Sayer poured his juice and drank patiently from the cup.</p>
<p>"So . . . a few nights ago"—Only a few nights? It felt like a month!—"I had a nightmare. Someone was calling out to me, and I knew they were in the city, so I went there to find them. When I got inside, I found that it was an injured boy. Well, 'boy'. He was about my age, maybe a little older. I didn't recognize him, but I wanted to help him. But I couldn't, the dream wouldn't let me get close to him. And then this <em>huge</em>"—she gestured with her arms spread wide in the air—"dragon appeared from the sky and attacked him. After that I woke up, and I <em>knew</em> it wasn't just a dream. And I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I ended up . . . well," she said, her quick tale suddenly turning into slow hesitation. "I . . . went to Domino."</p>
<p>She paused, expecting a reaction. She raised her shoulders anxiously. Across from her, Sayer leaned forward in his seat.</p>
<p>"You went to Domino," he repeated.</p>
<p>She nodded. "Yeah . . ."</p>
<p>"By yourself."</p>
<p>Another nod. "Yeah."</p>
<p>He was quiet, and she knew he was staring at her, even though she couldn't bring herself to look up at him. Eventually he sighed, and she could tell he wasn't thrilled.</p>
<p>"Well, you seem to have made it back in one piece," he noted. "I'm glad for that. So, what happened?"</p>
<p>She looked up, her heart swelling with joyful relief that he didn't say anything harsh to reprimand her.</p>
<p>"I wore the cape," she added quickly to reassure him. The cape had a magical property to it that hid its and her own magic from easy detection, which was useful in a city where magic was an object of voracious desire. "And I got there early in the morning, so the markets were just getting started. I spent a few hours just wandering around looking for any sign that something was wrong, or for the boy I saw. But I wasn't finding anything, so I thought maybe it was too soon for anything to happen. So I was about to go home, but then I happened to come across these crates that were giving off strong magic, and it turned out they were full of <em>dragon scales</em>," she said emphatically with disdain.</p>
<p>Sayer looked at her with an intense gaze. "Dragon scales," he repeated slowly. "How horrible."</p>
<p>Aki nodded. "I know! I can't <em>believe</em> there are people out there hunting and killing dragons! It's <em>sick</em>!" Not to mention illegal, but that was the least of the problem.</p>
<p>Sayer nodded once, slowly. "Yes."</p>
<p>With how much Sayer admired dragons, Aki knew he must be fuming, so furious he could barely speak. She continued, "And then the ones who had the crates saw me near them, and I panicked. I ran, and that just made them chase me, and then even more people joined them, and I was scared they would catch me, I really felt like I was running for my life." She explained this in the hope that it would make him sympathetic and convey to him that she had learned her lesson about leaving home.</p>
<p>Sayer was still watching her intently, holding very still and gripping his hands together tightly.</p>
<p>"But then, I was saved. By the boy from my dream! He came out of <em>nowhere</em> and fought the men to stop them! He even knocked both of them out completely."</p>
<p>"Hmm. I guess that means he wasn't injured like you saw in the dream."</p>
<p>"No, not at all. He was perfectly fine and healthy. And . . . a knight."</p>
<p>Sayer didn't frown, but Aki believed that was because he didn't want to interrupt her story. "A knight, huh?" he said simply.</p>
<p>She nodded. "Yes. And he said he had been after people involved in the dragon scale trade for a while."</p>
<p>"Is that so?" Sayer scoffed quietly. "Probably wants the magic for himself. Or for the king."</p>
<p>"Well, actually," Aki countered slowly, somewhat uncomfortable challenging her mentor. "He wants to stop the dragon hunts. He thinks it's wrong. He's not after the magic at all."</p>
<p>He raised an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure of that?"</p>
<p>"Well," she said very slowly, then took a deep breath. "We were able to talk for a little bit before I came home, and . . . he's friends with a dragon."</p>
<p>Sayer didn't react at first. Aki waited for him to understand what she had said.</p>
<p>"What?" he asked after a moment.</p>
<p>"Yeah!" Aki agreed, agreeing that it was something amazing to learn. "Apparently they've been friends for a long time, too!"</p>
<p>Sayer's lips twitched and his jaw flexed. "Hmm." Aki also noticed that he was squeezing his hands very hard. Hearing about a dragon must be making him very excited—or maybe jealous that someone else could be so close to one and not him.</p>
<p>"So anyway, that same night, I heard something loud and I came outside, and I saw two dragons flying over the forest. They were <em>fighting</em> each other! It was the craziest thing I've ever seen! And then they both got injured, and one fell and the other flew away. The one that fell landed in the forest and made the crater you found. And I went to it—of course I did, right? How could I not? So I found it, and it was <em>healing</em> itself! It was amazing! So the dragon was alive and fine, but there was a human with him. He had actually been riding the dragon the whole time. And it turned out to be the same knight that had helped me! And he was injured really badly from the fall. Really, he was close to dying. Just like I had seen."</p>
<p>"Hm." Sayer made the thoughtful noise and gently rubbed his chin.</p>
<p>"I guess that means the dragon that attacked him is the one I saw, but . . ." She frowned, unconvinced. "That doesn't seem quite right, so I don't know."</p>
<p>"I see. And what happened to the knight?"</p>
<p>Aki's face brightened. "I <em>healed</em> him!" she said excitedly. "Oh, I wish you could have seen it! I was so proud of myself. I wasn't sure I could do it at first, but I <em>did</em>! I mean, he was hurt so bad, I didn't know if my magic was good enough to heal something that serious. But I did it!" She was grinning as wide as she could. "And of course, I have to thank you for that, because you're such a good teacher."</p>
<p>Sayer gave a forced smile that looked like he had just swallowed some horrible cooking but was trying to be polite. Aki tried not to be too disappointed that his feelings about the dragon kept him from celebrating with her. "Well done," he said stiffly.</p>
<p>It made Aki's heart sink, and her enthusiasm waned down to a small smile. "Thank you. After that, they stayed here for a few days to let the knight recover, since he needed lots of rest."</p>
<p>"Here?" he repeated sharply.</p>
<p>That made Aki's whole body go stiff.</p>
<p>"Umm, yeah," she said in a small voice, feeling like she was admitting to a crime. "I'm sorry. It's just that he saved me, you know? I wanted to help him in return. And, I don't know, I thought I could trust him."</p>
<p>"He's a <em>knight</em>," he said in a flat, strained voice. "And I'm an <em>exile</em>, remember? What do you think would have happened if he had seen me?"</p>
<p>Aki pushed her back against the cushion behind her. "Well, I meant to make sure they left before you got back," she explained weakly. "I know how much you hate Domino, and I know it's dangerous. And I thought even if you did come home, you would get to see a dragon."</p>
<p>Sayer took a very slow, deep breath and ran his hands down over his face. Then with his eyes closed, he pressed his palms together and leaned his lips against the edge of his straightened fingers. Aki sat tense, thinking that <em>now</em> the reprimand was coming.</p>
<p>But he sat for a minute in silence, keeping his thoughts to himself behind his closed eyes. It made Aki so anxious she couldn't even raise her voice to apologize.</p>
<p>He took another loud, slow breath and exhaled through his nose. "I see," he murmured, then opened his eyes. "I see."</p>
<p>Aki opened her mouth and stammered, "I . . . I'm sorry. For . . . everything."</p>
<p>"No," he said, lowering his hands and rising to his feet. "You don't need to apologize."</p>
<p>"But . . . I did some reckless things, and I didn't have your permission for anything. I'm sorry."</p>
<p>Sayer's tight expression finally loosened into a smile she had never seen him wear before. He didn't seem happy, he seemed to be laughing at a cruel joke. "You couldn't help it," he said in a voice of mock compassion. "It was fate. And no one can resist fate."</p>
<p>Aki suddenly felt an uneasiness spread through her veins like ice.</p>
<p>Sayer raised a hand so that the crystals faced her, and as he clenched it into a fist, the crystals began to shine, filling the dim room with such light Aki had to raise her arm to shield her closed eyes.</p>
<p>"Thank you, Aki," she heard her mentor say in that twisted sneer she had never heard from him before. "I'm so glad you told me the truth."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Yusei and Stardust were taking their time as they continued their long flight over the Black Forest. Their priority was to find the mysterious dragon, though they had no clues to follow. They couldn't even say what direction it had left in since they had both been too busy falling to notice.</p>
<p>And besides, days had passed since then. But Stardust hadn't even found any traces when he had gone patrolling the area around Aki's home while Yusei was still recovering. Both human and dragon scoured the forest with their eyes, but with a dull doubt weighing in their minds. Even so, neither of them wanted to admit it was futile to search, because what else could they do?</p>
<p>"Maybe he's lying dead somewhere," Stardust muttered without really believing it. He just didn't like the gloomy silence. "Would serve him right."</p>
<p>"It wouldn't be much help though," Yusei countered. They wouldn't learn much from a dead dragon.</p>
<p>"What do you mean? If he's dead, he can't make any more attacks! That seems pretty helpful to me." Now he was just bantering to lift the mood. And Yusei was willing to join him, even though he kept his eyes strictly on the scenery below.</p>
<p>"In the short-term, sure," he agreed. "But there has to be more to it than just one dragon."</p>
<p>"Well there <em>was</em> the human riding him."</p>
<p>"Even more than that. I mean . . . something bigger." The back of his mind was working to solve a puzzle that he didn't know the picture of and didn't yet have all the pieces for.</p>
<p>And Stardust knew him well enough that he could guess, "You're trying to connect it to the dragon scales and the magic shifts, aren't you?"</p>
<p>"Can you be sure they're <em>not</em> connected?"</p>
<p>"No, but I probably don't have your imagination to make that leap just yet."</p>
<p>"It just . . . feels like there's something there," Yusei murmured to himself. A dragon attacking them out of nowhere. A massive amount of dragon scales appearing in the heart of the city. A change in the sensation of magic, like a bizarre change in climate. And then of course, the vision Aki had seen in her dream. He wanted to make them fit together. Maybe it was intuition or simply his own quirk that wanted to find logic in everything, but either way, he couldn't stop thinking about it.</p>
<p>"Maybe. I'm still stuck on the fact that he <em>attacked</em> us! I didn't even recognize the guy, who does he think he is just shooting at me like that? What did I ever do to him?"</p>
<p>Yusei couldn't help thinking that the answer to that question was an important piece of the puzzle. Or maybe he just really hoped it was.</p>
<p>"Well if we manage to find him and he isn't dead, we can ask him."</p>
<p>"If he isn't dead, I'm going to ask him how the <em>hell</em> he survived getting hit by my blast. I put a lot of force into it, his feathers shouldn't have been able to protect him!"</p>
<p>"And while we're at it, let's ask him his name, favorite color, and ideal date."</p>
<p>"Don't make me eat you."</p>
<p>Yusei just smirked to himself. Then looking up and around, he saw a clearing in the trees ahead. "Let's go over there," he said. "To that lake. You can take a break and I'll look around."</p>
<p>"Aye, aye, Captain," Stardust replied with snark.</p>
<p>As the dragon began a steady descent, Yusei swept his eyes over the whole horizon, twisting to make sure he got a good look behind as well. Nothing. Just a peaceful, clear day. It seemed he had been lucky enough to land near a witch who was able and willing to save his life, but perhaps not lucky enough to come across any sign that could lead to the dragon.</p>
<p>Stardust landed gently by the lake, the wind from his flapping wings shaking the nearby trees. Yusei slid down the dragon's sleek shoulder and landed on his feet with his knees bent. It was his usual method, but this time a vague dizziness struck him, and he had to bend down further and place a hand on the ground to keep steady. He took some deep breaths while his head hung, and after a moment it subsided. He raised his head slowly and then stood, grateful that it hadn't been worse.</p>
<p>And then his hand drifted to his abdomen. There was nothing there, the memory of his injury only existed in his head. But he could remember how warm Aki's magic had felt, even though he had been practically unconscious at the time.</p>
<p>Lucky. He had been incredibly lucky.</p>
<p>Some might say there was more to it than that. Destiny, or something of the sort. But destiny didn't sit right with Yusei. True, destiny provided a logic to the world. A force called destiny meant that everything that happened fit together in a purposeful way. But that also meant that destiny was cruel, and Yusei couldn't bring himself to believe that a force that great would allow—or in fact, <em>predetermine</em>—so many tragedies to happen. No, people's choices had to mean something. People's efforts had to mean something. He believed that with all his heart.</p>
<p>If a force like destiny or fate existed, Yusei could only accept that it stood on equal footing with the people it affected. It could set the stage and create openings, but it couldn't control the outcomes. So maybe, just maybe, luck or fate had made him fall near Aki's house, but it was Aki who had chosen to heal him. And Yusei refused to believe that any greater power would condemn her to face the wrath of a hostile society full of fear and hatred toward witches. It was too much of a waste of her potential and her kindness.</p>
<p>And it was a shame he would probably never see her again.</p>
<p>He pulled himself out of his thoughts and dropped his hand from his stomach.</p>
<p>"Hey Yusei," Stardust called. Yusei turned to see the dragon peering into the lake, his long neck craned as far as he could get it over the surface. "I noticed on the way down . . . I can see some unnatural depressions down there in the lake's floor. Big ones."</p>
<p>Yusei stepped up next to Stardust's foot at the edge of the lake. His eyes weren't equipped to see through the water as well as the dragon's, so he mostly just saw the rippling reflection of the sunlight on the surface. "So what are you thinking?"</p>
<p>"I'm thinking that damn dragon landed in the lake after he took off." He turned his head all around and bared his teeth. "And then somehow just disappeared."</p>
<p>"Disappeared, huh," Yusei mused, holding his chin.</p>
<p>"Something like that. There's no other sign of him here <em>at all</em>. Seriously, who the <em>hell</em> <em>is</em> this guy?" Stardust snarled. "<em>What</em> is he?"</p>
<hr/>
<p>Aki was frozen in her seat, her heart beating hummingbird-fast as her whole body went numb and cold. She peeked open an eye and saw the vague shadow of his figure through the light.</p>
<p>"What . . . ?" she murmured in a shaky voice. What was he doing? Why did he seem so . . . different? Waves of a disturbing, dark energy wafted from him and splashed against her, getting bigger and bigger each pulse. Her mind had gone blank. Her breath was shallow. She didn't understand. She <em>didn't understand</em>.</p>
<p>"Poor little girl," Sayer called to her, and the sneer she could hear on his face twisted in her heart like a knife. "I almost feel sorry for you."</p>
<p>She finally found her voice. "What are you saying?"</p>
<p>"Oh, there's so much I could tell you. It might even be funny to see the look on your face if I did."</p>
<p>Anger started to mingle with Aki's confusion. He sounded so horrible, mocking her in such a callous voice. And with that dark aura radiating from him, she didn't recognize him anymore.</p>
<p>"You want to see my face?" she screamed, feeling hot. She threw her arms down at the same time that she jumped off her chair, and the floorboards and walls and windows all broke apart as thick roots rammed through from all sides. Glass shards, wood splinters, stone rubble, and furniture flew in a storm as the roots all aimed toward Sayer. They moved fast as arrows, but Sayer didn't flinch, not even when they were a mere inch from vulnerable neck—where they came to a sudden halt. He stood where he was, wearing a confident smile as he stared at Aki, who was glaring hard back at him, now that the light was blocked by the roots.</p>
<p>They stood at a standstill like that for a long moment, until all the debris had settled and the room went quiet. And then Sayer lowered his hand, the light from the glove dimming until the crystals were dormant once again. Aki's shoulders went tight, every muscle in her body wound up and ready to spring.</p>
<p>And then Sayer burst into laughter.</p>
<p>Aki blinked, her mind wiped blank again.</p>
<p>Sayer gasped for breath between laughs and pressed a palm against his forehead. "You're face! Haha! You fell for it, you really fell for it!"</p>
<p>Aki couldn't relax. To her alert hears, his laughter sounded wrong. Something about it didn't ring genuine, and it made her skin prickle with goosebumps. But she told herself it must be the panic. Maybe she was overreacting. She didn't understand <em>why</em> Sayer would pull a prank like this, but it was <em>Sayer</em>.</p>
<p>Slowly, the roots began to withdraw from their threatening positions, sliding back out through the broken walls and down into the ground beneath the fractured floor. As Sayer continued to laugh, Aki forced out a weak laugh of her own.</p>
<p>"Yeah," she agreed hesitantly. "I guess I did."</p>
<p>Sayer slapped his knee as few times as the roots shrank smaller and smaller. "Oh, that was good!"</p>
<p>"What the hell are you talking about?" she demanded, feeling freer now to berate him. "You <em>scared</em> me! What the hell kind of joke is that?" And since when did he make jokes, anyway?</p>
<p>"Sorry," he said, finally catching is breath. "I just thought I'd do a little test."</p>
<p>"A <em>test</em>?" The last of the roots disappeared, and sunlight streaked through the open walls thick as curtains. "What the hell kind of <em>test</em>—"</p>
<p>Aki stumbled backwards.</p>
<p>She was about to fall into her chair behind her, but a bubble of light grew from her chest, where she had just been struck by a sudden white bolt, until it enveloped her whole body and held her upright. The light had come too fast for her to react, and now she was paralyzed as the orb gently lifted her from the ground.</p>
<p>Her head hung back and her limbs spread as if she was floating on the surface of a lake, and she watched the light swirl around her, felt it pass through her, unable to struggle. It didn't hurt, but that would have been better. Instead, she felt it leech something from her, something more precious than blood and flesh. She opened her mouth, but only a strangled whisper came out.</p>
<p>
  <em>No . . .</em>
</p>
<p>Her fingers twitched. Her lips trembled. And still, all she could do was whimper weakly.</p>
<p>
  <em>No . . . !</em>
</p>
<p>The light sucked on her, and she felt the drain as clearly as needles in her veins. The world around her grew darker, quieter, more still, like the sun was setting on her senses.</p>
<p><em>Help me,</em> she pleaded, calling to her companions of the heart, the faithful plants who always heeded her will.</p>
<p>But they didn't come.</p>
<p><em>Please, please,</em> she begged, her eyes growing wet. Because she knew. She knew. She could feel it.</p>
<p>She could feel that she <em>didn't</em> feel it. Not anymore.</p>
<p>Her heartbeat was getting slower, her mind foggier. She needed air.</p>
<p><em>Please,</em> she thought with one last gasp. And one small shoot responded. It crept up, green and silky, through the splinters under her hovering body, and rose until it touched the wispy white orb. It was enough to at least disrupt the flow of its energy and deflect it from swirling around Aki to instead fly upward, bursting through the planks and thatch of the roof, which then rained down over the room.</p>
<p>Aki dropped, free from the spell, and her green sprout died beneath her weight.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Sayer staggered until he fell to one knee, gasping and wheezing loudly. His skin bulged with throbbing veins and nerves while his body trembled, steam rising from his hunched shoulders and the length of his robe. His hands burned with small fires, and as he kept struggling for breath, he pat them together until the flames went out.</p>
<p>"Stupid . . . girl," he heaved. How dare she put up a fight. He had been waiting for this day. For <em>years</em>. The time for his harvest had come, and all his preparations had gone perfectly. She trusted him, relied on him, adored him. He had <em>saved</em> her, after all.</p>
<p>He laughed thinking about it.</p>
<p>Yes, he was her <em>savior</em>. She owed him everything, and now she could consider that debt repaid. He had gotten what he needed from her.</p>
<p>He had put so much time and effort into making sure this extraction went well. He had been saving her for this, teaching her so that her power would grow, and keeping her hidden and locked away as a secret stash of magic he could take when the moment was right.</p>
<p>He reached up and gripped the amulet strung around his neck, the one he had worn constantly ever since he met her. The truth had been in front of her eyes all this time—the truth of <em>that day</em>, sealed inside the crystal—and she had never known, never even suspected.</p>
<p>Well, that was how it should be. He had stolen it from her, after all, and in its place, he had given her a different story. He had impressed even himself by how well he had managed to replace her memories. He had never noticed any breakdown over the years in the magic he had used, and even now, what he had created was still knit seamlessly inside her head.</p>
<p>To her, he was a noble who had fallen from grace, unjustly exiled by the king, with no one and nothing in the world left except her, the little girl he had rescued to be his apprentice in magic. And well, <em>some</em> of that was true. But now that he had her magic, the girl herself meant nothing. He had <em>plenty</em> besides her. He had ambitions. He had . . . <em>plans</em>.</p>
<p>He tried to get up, but his joints weren't ready for his weight, and he dropped down again. He had known absorbing magic was a risk, but things weren't going as smoothly as he had expected. He had to move quickly. He had to make sure nothing interfered with his plans.</p>
<p>He had enough strength to look up. Aki was lying on the shattered floor, and she was breathing, even if weakly. So she had survived. Well, he couldn't hold that against her <em>too</em> much. If he had taken that last drop of magic in her that was keeping her alive, it probably would have gone past his limit, killing him. So fine, he would let her keep it. It wouldn't do her any good anyway.</p>
<p>His breath was getting smoother. He could feel himself adapting as all her magic integrated with his own. Soon the magic would help him heal and he would be good as new. <em>Better</em> than new. He looked down to the gloves he wore, which had not been damaged by the fire, and flexed his fingers. He was alive thanks to them. It would have been worth it to pay so much more than he had given for them, but the one who had sold them had had no idea what they were. Lucky for him.</p>
<p>He grinned as he turned his hand to see the crystals, which looked like glass filled with white smoke stirring around on a soft breeze. With these, he didn't even need dragon scales anymore.</p>
<p>He looked up across the room one more time, the mockery in his heart contorting his face into a pitiless smile. "You may be stupid, but you really proved yourself useful. So thank you again," he taunted, and then spoke her name with the thrust of an insult. "<em>Aki</em>."</p>
<p>Stardust and Yusei both turned their heads toward the mountains, their attention snatched by a column of light when it suddenly ripped through the sky. They watched in amazement as it shone like lightning and as the nearby clouds began to spin around it in concentric circles.</p>
<p>"That's Aki's house," Yusei murmured as he pointed on the map in his head where the light seemed to touch the ground. He was too afraid to guess what was happening. His impulse only told him to <em>go</em>.</p>
<p>And in time with his mind, Stardust pushed himself against the ground, allowing Yusei to jump back up onto his shoulders. As he got his grip and footing set, Yusei watched the column fade—which it did from top to bottom, as if sinking into the ground.</p>
<p>"What the hell kind of magic was that?" Yusei asked as his friend flapped his strong wings and got them off the ground.</p>
<p>"I can't say for sure," Stardust answered. "But it made me shiver from here."</p>
<p>Yusei felt his heart freeze and he gripped hard on Stardust's cartilage spikes. "Do you think it was the dragon?"</p>
<p>"I don't know. I don't <em>think</em> so. But, I don't know."</p>
<p>"How fast can you get there?"</p>
<p>"We're about to find out."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Aki lay, her grip on consciousness fragile. The room seemed to spin, and the floor beneath her felt like undulating waves. She breathed slow through parted lips, and when she blinked, her eyelids had to work to open again halfway. She was vaguely aware of what she could see and hear, but she was too exhausted to understand any of it.</p>
<p>Sayer, meanwhile, had gathered enough of his strength that he could finally stand again, though his legs shook and his knees threatened to soften at any moment. He wondered how much longer it would take for the absorption to complete. He leaned against a table that was turned on its side and caught his breath again. He was sweating, his long hair sticking to his face and neck. He was ready to get out of this wreck of a house, and when he did, Aki would be left alone, too weak to move, lying there until she starved to death.</p>
<p>Not his problem. He had more important things to take care of.</p>
<p>But his time to collect himself was cut short. His ears twitched when they caught the distant echo of a roar. A dragon. Possibly <em>that</em> dragon. With <em>that</em> knight. And it was coming closer. To be safe, he had to assume they had noticed the surge of magic and were on their way to investigate. Sayer ground his teeth. If only he was strong enough to face them right now . . . He clenched his fist. Another day. He could be patient enough for that.</p>
<p>With great effort and a loud grunt, he lurched from the table and limped to his study room so he could grab the book from his desk and his cape—the one like Aki's that concealed his magic from view. A rare and, more importantly, <em>useful</em> tool. He scrambled out, tripping and stumbling along the way as his knees protested against the sudden work he put them to. But he was determined, and he moved as quickly as he could, even as he had to pick up the book several times after it fell from his shaking hands.</p>
<p>By the time the dragon landed, he was thankfully inside the forest, and he dropped to his belly and crawled under some thick bushes, hugging the book to his chest. He watched from his position, breathing hard again. But he was confident that if he stayed still, not even the dragon would notice him. Their senses were good, but they weren't <em>precise</em>.</p>
<p>The moment he saw the dragon he knew. There was no forgetting or mistaking that dragon. And then from its back, he saw a figure jump off. Ah, there he was. Sayer frowned, unamused by the cosmic irony. So, that insufferable little boy had actually become a knight, and that dragon was still his friend. And he had been saved from the brink of death by his own little witch. What a fairy tale.</p>
<p>Sayer scoffed. If that boy was the hero, then that made him the villain. Well fine, they could call him the villain of the story, he didn't care. Their version wouldn't matter for much longer anyway. Soon enough, <em>he</em> would be the one telling all the tales.</p>
<p>He gripped the edge of his book tightly, and its vibrations reassured him.</p>
<hr/>
<p>To Yusei's eyes, the house was demolished. To Stardust's, the magic veil that had hidden the house was gone. Yusei dropped to his feet and raced to the wreckage.</p>
<p>"Aki!" he shouted. When he got closer, his boots crushed glass shards and crunched dry wood and gravel. "Aki! Aki!" He looked around, and nothing looked like it had that morning. The walls and ceiling were all collapsed, the floor ripped to tatters, furniture and decorations knocked down. Yusei had to tread carefully over leaning planks to move from room to room, and as he did, he kept calling, "Aki! Are you here?"</p>
<p>He made it to the center where the living room had once been, and behind another fallen wall he finally found her, lying on her face, scorched and bent like a discarded doll.</p>
<p>"AKI!"</p>
<p>He leapt over the obstacles and dropped to her side so he could lift her gently and roll her into his arms. He was able to breathe again when he saw she was still alive, but his relief was short and fragile. She was alive, but for how much longer?</p>
<p>"Aki," he called again, brushing her dirty bangs from her face. "Can you hear me?" He pressed his hand against her cheek and stared at her anxiously, his chest tight. She didn't respond.</p>
<p>"Aki. <em>Aki</em>." He shook her as he cradled her shoulders in his arm. From outside, Stardust stood by, tense and silent. Yusei rubbed his thumb against her cheek, and then moved his hand to hers and picked it up. "Aki," he called, his voice strained. He squeezed her hand. "<em>Please</em>, wake up."</p>
<p><em>I can't heal you</em>, he lamented, apologizing in his heart.</p>
<p>After a moment, he felt her hand twitch inside his. He saw her eyes do the same.</p>
<p>"Aki!"</p>
<p>She exhaled softly, and her eyes opened just a sliver.</p>
<p>Yusei gasped in delight. "Aki! Aki it's me! It's Yusei!"</p>
<p>"Yuuu . . ."</p>
<p>She was so tired. So tired. It was nice of him to come, but could he let her sleep? Just a little longer . . .</p>
<p>"<em>Poor little girl . . . I almost feel sorry for you."</em></p>
<p>Aki's heart lurched with nausea. That voice. It squeezed her chest and forced the pressure into her skull. Her stomach churned. Her dry throat stung with acid. Sayer . . . How could he . . . ?</p>
<p>"Say . . ."</p>
<p>"Yes! Yes, it's Yusei. Aki, I'm here."</p>
<p>Aki's eyes opened a little more, and though her drowsiness made her vision blurry, she could make out the black of his hair and the blue of his eyes. She could feel his arm supporting her under her shoulders and his hand holding hers. She could hear the earnestness in his voice.</p>
<p>It was too much. All of it was too much. She just wanted to cry. Her face broke as she looked up at him.</p>
<p>"What happened?" he asked.</p>
<p>But she couldn't answer. Her lips trembled as tears slid down her temples and into her hair.</p>
<p>"Who did this?"</p>
<p>Sayer. She couldn't say it, but the truth rang clear to her. Sayer. Sayer did this. Sayer attacked her, nearly killed her, stole her . . . her magic.</p>
<p>She tried to swallow the thick lump in her throat, but it was so dry and tight. Yusei was holding her so gently, but she could feel Sayer's betrayal strangling her as it also stabbed her heart. She rolled her head until she could press her face into the knight's shoulder. It was the only movement she could make, and also the only one that could bring any modicum of comfort. She wished she could fold herself up and hide in the safety of his hands.</p>
<p><em>Take me away from here,</em> she pleaded wordlessly. Away from this place full of her humiliating trust and deceitful peace. All her happy memories had been spoiled sour, as ruined as the house around her—as ruined as she herself was. Her voice creaked past the lump in an aching sob.</p>
<p>Yusei's chest hurt. He squeezed her hand and leaned down closer to her ear. "I've got you," he said, and it came out like a promise. "I'll take you somewhere safe." With that, Aki seemed to calm into sleep, and not wanting to disturb her, he moved slowly. He let go of her hand so he could slide his arm under her legs, and he lifted her up easily. Carefully, he carried her through the rubble until they were outside. He looked around to make sure there was nothing dangerous in sight, and then looked up to Stardust.</p>
<p>"Let's get out of here."</p>
<p>Instead of answering, the dragon was surprisingly quiet for a moment, and Yusei realized he was staring at Aki. "What?" he asked.</p>
<p>The dragon exuded a rare aura of genuine sorrow. "Listen, kid . . ." But he stopped himself and just pressed his belly down to the ground to let Yusei get on, while holding Aki sitting upright in front of him. Yusei let him keep his thoughts to himself for now, and just focused on keeping Aki steady as they rose up. And for his part, Stardust flew gently, so as not to jostle his passengers.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>When Aki opened her eyes again, she was lying on her back, facing up to the sky. She felt a little stronger than before, at least enough that she could move again, though her body was still heavy with exhaustion. She slowly sat up, and as she did, she felt a hand suddenly supporting her back. She turned to see Yusei at her side, kneeling so they were eye to eye.</p>
<p>"How are you?" he asked quietly.</p>
<p>She closed her eyes and sighed. "Tired." It hurt to speak, and she realized how dry her throat was. "Thirsty."</p>
<p>"I'll get you some water."</p>
<p>She nodded her thanks, and he hesitantly removed his hand from her back. When he saw she could hold herself up, he went to the lake and scooped up some water in the bowl of his shoulder armor. He brought it to her and she drank gratefully. When she finished, she handed him back his armor.</p>
<p>"I'll get more."</p>
<p>She nodded again, and then turned to follow him with her eyes. And that led her to see Stardust standing by the lake. And seeing him now, it hit her. It really, finally hit her.</p>
<p>The dragon could see every minute shift in her expression as her eyes widened, her mouth opened, and her lungs filled with a deep gasp of horror. But she couldn't see him, not as she used to, not as he was.</p>
<p>With her throat freshly dampened, her voice came out easier. At first it was low, but then she looked around to the forest, and it came out again stronger. She scrambled to her hands and knees and grabbed at the grass under her. She pulled it up and the blades blew away, dull and lifeless. Her breath quickened and she pushed herself up and stumbled on weak legs to a patch of flowers a few steps away and dropped down. She cradled the light pink blossoms in her palms and searched them desperately, running her hands down their stems and lightly rubbing the leaves between her fingers.</p>
<p>Nothing. She couldn't see it. She couldn't see the magic.</p>
<p>"<em>No</em>," she moaned. She dropped her hands to the ground and brushed them through the dirt as if looking for something she had lost. But the earth was dark to her, dark and still, the bright streams of life she was so used to sensing hidden from her. She tried to reach out with more than her hands, but she couldn't find that limb. It was as if it had been amputated. She couldn't resonate with the earth. She couldn't call on it to grow a seedling, let alone any of the enormous roots that had come to protect her.</p>
<p>"No no no no <em>no</em>!" she moaned again, breathing hard, heart racing in a panic while also growing heavy with agony.</p>
<p>She focused. She focused hard. <em>Come</em>, she willed. <em>Please come. Come to me. Come, come! Grow! Bloom!</em></p>
<p>A speck of dirt shook, and before her wriggled up a tiny clover, its three leaves unfurling until they were open enough to wilt. Aki's shoulders rose and fell with her deep breaths.</p>
<p>"<em>Nooooo</em>," she wailed, shaking. She looked down at her dirty hands. Then she pressed her palms against her eyes and began to rock back and forth. "Aaa<em>aAAAAA</em>!" The more her voice came out, the easier it was able to push through her. "AAaaaaAAAAAAA!"</p>
<p>Her fingers raked through her hair as she pushed her hands up. Her mouth hung open and she rocked until her forehead was against the dirt.</p>
<p>"<em>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!</em>"</p>
<p>Yusei stood behind her, his armor dropped and forgotten as he stared down at her curved back. He didn't know what to do.</p>
<p>"<em>Listen,"</em> Stardust had sighed when he had laid Aki down to sleep. <em>"I don't know what happened, but Aki . . . her magic is . . . it's gone."</em></p>
<p>"<em>Gone?"</em> Yusei repeated. The dragon nodded solemnly, and Yusei could tell by his tone that Stardust wasn't playing. <em>"How is that possible?"</em></p>
<p>"<em>We won't really know until she can tell us . . ."</em></p>
<p>Paralyzed by helplessness, Yusei could only watch as Aki raised her head and wailed to the sky, which was just as silent as the earth. She brought her fists down against the dirt a few times and then pushed herself up, but after only two steps she crumpled back down. She bent over as she pressed her hand against her heart and clawed into her chest, her voice a cry of inconsolable grief.</p>
<p>"WHYYYYYYYYYYY?" she screamed. Then she began to dig into the dirt. She lifted piles of it in her cupped hands and then watched it pour out between them. It was so dark, so empty. She looked around, her red face painted with dirt and tears. To her, the forest had become a barren desert, and the dragon a mere glow. He was a bright dragon, true, his skin emitting a moonlight aura, but that was a brightness on the outside. To Aki, he had always shined from the inside, a galaxy of shooting stars spinning and circulating through his body. But not anymore.</p>
<p>The sun was setting, casting its light against the mountains in an ethereal display of rays above their outline, and the clouds darkened from white to pink, orange, red, and purple. Their beauty felt like a mockery. Aki bared her teeth, sucked in a deep breath, and screamed again, scouring her throat raw until she doubled over and sobbed to the ground.</p>
<p>"Why?" she asked before dropping onto her side. "Why?" She pressed her hands over her face and curled her body, then whimpered, "Give it <em>back</em>."</p>
<p>Give back her magic. Give back her life. Give back her <em>soul</em>.</p>
<p>Now that she had finally worn herself out, Yusei dared to approach her. He knelt down at her back and put a hand lightly on her shoulder. She flinched and pulled her hands from her face so she could look up at him. She worried he might ask her more questions, which she still wouldn't be able to answer.</p>
<p>Instead he said in a hushed voice, "I'm so sorry."</p>
<p>Aki felt another sob push up from her lungs, but she swallowed it. She slowly rolled onto her hands and knees and straightened so she could face him. He looked at her, into her swollen red eyes.</p>
<p>"If I hadn't left," he continued, the guilt and apology clear to her ears.</p>
<p>She closed her eyes and bit down on the inside of her lips. And then she let herself fall forward into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her eyes into his shoulder. Yusei in turn wrapped his arms around her body and held her firmly.</p>
<p>And as he felt her still shaking against him, his heart burned with a flame strong enough to purify his muscles and will into steel. He was ready to hunt whoever had done this to the ends of the earth. He wanted justice. No, he wanted to <em>bring</em> justice. And whether that was a righteous and noble desire or not, in that moment, he wasn't sure.</p>
<p>And in his anger, he forgot to care.</p>
<p>The knighthood in his heart that valued self-control and honor and virtue was pushed aside by the force of his sheer <em>hatred</em> for undeserved suffering. Maybe hatred was a poisonous emotion, but it was what fueled his conviction when he could rein it in under his control. And though he wanted to create a world that was equally just to all, he was human, and he couldn't help that his passions flared when someone he cared about was made a victim.</p>
<p>He held her tight, feeling his attachment to her grow.</p>
<p>"I'm sorry," he murmured again. "I shouldn't have left."</p>
<p>Aki could only shake her head. Neither of them could have known what would happen. And even if he had been there, maybe he would have gotten hurt too. Maybe Sayer would have been strong enough to attack all of them.</p>
<p>"I won't leave you again," he said—making another promise. "I'll help you. I swear."</p>
<p>Aki's answer was to grip the back of his shirt with both hands and nod. She didn't know if there was anything he could do to help, but she desperately wanted to not be alone, and he was the only one she had it in her heart to trust.</p>
<p>"Will you come with me?"</p>
<p>Aki slowly pushed herself up from his shoulder and reached up with her hands to wipe her eyes. Her fingers and face were still dirty, but at least she could see and look into his eyes. His hands were on her shoulders now, and she liked how firm and confident they felt against her exhausted body. She swallowed.</p>
<p>"I've lost my home," she said, voice raw and weak, "and I've got nothing else left."</p>
<p>Yusei tried not to let it show on his face how much her sad smile pained him.</p>
<p>Her lips trembled, and as tears lined her despairing eyes, she gave her answer. "If you'll let me, I'll go with you anywhere—anywhere in the world."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Whims of fate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong> <em>“We never meet ordinary people in our lives.” - C.S. Lewis</em> </strong>
</p><p>“Hey Stardust, I’ve been wondering.” A young Yusei sat on a patch of green grass, leaning back on his arms and enjoying the nice weather. His friend was curled next to him doing the same, though he was ready to enjoy his favorite sport too.</p><p>“No, I can’t fly you all the way to a star.”</p><p>Yusei turned his head and scrunched his face. “What? No, that’s not—”</p><p>“Why yes, I <em>am</em> the most beautiful dragon in existence.”</p><p>“What are you even—”</p><p>“Well, if you <em>must</em> know, I’ll admit that one thing I <em>do</em> like about humans is some of their music. But just <em>some</em>.”</p><p>Yusei stared at Stardust with a <em>look</em>. Stardust stared back feigning innocence.</p><p>“Are you done?”</p><p>“What? Oh, was that <em>not</em> what you were wondering about?”</p><p>“Not this time, no.”</p><p>“I see. All right, what <em>were</em> you wondering?”</p><p>“I was wondering how old are you?”</p><p>“Is that so? Well how old do you <em>think</em> I am?”</p><p>“I don’t know, probably eight.”</p><p>“You mean, eight <em>centuries</em>, right?”</p><p>“No, just eight years.” Yusei smirked.</p><p>“What in the world makes you think that?”</p><p>He shrugged. “You’re annoying, like a little brother.”</p><p>“You listen here, <em>kid</em>,” Stardust said pointedly, getting low to the ground and tapping with his claw. “I don’t know how old <em>you</em> are, but I guarantee I’m older than you.”</p><p>“Ok, so then . . . twelve?”</p><p>“<em>Who’s</em> the annoying one here again?”</p><p>“Hey, you’re the one who didn’t want to just tell me.”</p><p>Stardust huffed. “You’re so young you probably think thirty years is ancient.”</p><p>“Does that mean you’re thirty?”</p><p>“<em>No</em>. And I’m not ancient, either!”</p><p>“Then what <em>are</em> you?”</p><p>“Three hundred and fifty.”</p><p>“Centuries?”</p><p>“<em>Years!</em>”</p><p>“Ohhhhh, I see! So is that young or old for a dragon?”</p><p>“We can live more than a thousand years. You do the math.”</p><p>“Gotcha. So how long does it take for a dragon to start looking and feeling <em>old</em>?”</p><p>“Ha,” Stardust scoffed. “We’re not like you. We don’t break down over the years. We’re in our prime until very, <em>very</em> close to the end.”</p><p>“So you’ll still be this annoying even when you’re a great-great-great grandpa, huh?”</p><p>“You’re just disappointed you won’t get to keep experiencing the joy of my company for that long.”</p><p>Yusei just nodded, feeling relaxed and smiling to himself. To be honest, that was a disappointing thought, but he wasn’t going to give Stardust the satisfaction of hearing it out loud. The time since their grand meeting could be counted in weeks, and thanks to this dragon, Yusei was able to smile and laugh even after that . . . incident.</p><p>He could even find moments and spaces of peace. Today, they were sitting along a river surrounded by lush greenery, the wild bushes full of berries and the trees of small fruits that Yusei had become more familiar with as he experimented to feed himself. The darker colored berries were easily his favorites. Mushrooms were proving a challenge, and he often had to ask Stardust for advice on whether certain varieties were edible or not. Some needed to be cooked first, but the ones he could eat raw were acceptable. It at least saved him the trouble of preparing a fire. He was learning, and eager student that he was, he was even enjoying developing his skill as a scavenger.</p><p>At first, Stardust had offered to take him to the city, so he could find that “Martha” he was supposed to look for. But Yusei had been reluctant.</p><p>“If I went there, I feel like I’d always be waiting for . . . for mom to come.” And that meant every day would be tinged with disappointment. He knew she wouldn’t come, but his heart would still be waiting, just as he had promised. He didn’t want to live like that. If he stayed out here, with Stardust, he could have a completely different life. He could learn and see so much more, and every day would be an adventure. There was no doubt in his mind. “I’d rather be with you.”</p><p>Stardust had been hoping for that. He had just wanted to make sure he had done his due diligence in giving the boy a choice. Not that he had it in him to be a parent, he just . . . was enjoying having some company for once. And anyway, the kid didn’t seem to need much care-taking. He was mature, smart, capable. Stardust was mostly teaching him things—about dragons, or the world, or history. And maybe preventing a few disasters here and there. Like that time Yusei had been exploring the forest and found a large hole under a pine tree that he just <em>had </em>to stick his head inside. Stardust had just managed to yank the kid out with his teeth before the resident badger had scratched his face off.</p><p>Dragons were by nature solitary creatures. They didn’t travel in packs or form societies where they lived. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy companionship and company with the right individuals. And the more Stardust got to know the kid, the more he felt a kind of kinship with him.</p><p>And once the awe had worn off, Yusei felt a similar familiarity with the dragon as well. Now, when he asked Stardust questions, it wasn’t with a tone of amazement, it was with his usual insatiable curiosity, that of a boy who wanted to collect as much knowledge as his energetic brain could hold.</p><p>“Hey Stardust, are other dragons all like you?”</p><p>“How do you mean?”</p><p>Hiding his mischievous smile, he clarified, “Do they talk a lot?”</p><p>“Excuse you, I don’t talk <em>that</em> much!”</p><p>“Oh, my mistake.”</p><p>“That’s right. You just don’t talk much. <em>Everyone</em> talks a lot compared to you.”</p><p>“I say enough!” Yusei protested. “I say as much as I <em>need </em>to say.”</p><p>“That’s exactly my point.”</p><p>“We’ve gotten off topic.”</p><p>“And who’s fault is that?”</p><p>Banter was the only way to poke the kid into a conversation, otherwise he tended to keep to himself unless he had a question. And Stardust had realized pretty quickly that their back-and-forths were delightfully fun for him.</p><p>“Never mind. What I <em>meant</em> was, do all dragons want peace like you do?”</p><p>“Hmm,” he sighed. “Well, I don’t know every dragon out there, but I know there are . . . differences of opinion among us.”</p><p>“Why would a dragon not want peace?”</p><p>“Well . . . mostly it’s because they don’t like humans.”</p><p>“They don’t like <em>any</em> humans?”</p><p>“I doubt they’re putting that much thought into it. They’re not going around testing each individual human, they’re just grouping all of you into one general lump and leaving it at that.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“That’s not the way I feel about it, but I can understand where they’re coming from. Plenty of humans do things that make them, well, hard to trust and hard to like.”</p><p>“Mm,” was Yusei’s soft agreement. And then after a moment of thought, he asked, “What about dragons? Are there any bad ones?”</p><p>“That’s a big question. But in any case, dragons aren’t angels. We’ve got our own personalities. And maybe some of us are nicer, and calmer, and more open-minded than others. Whether any of us are bad or good probably depends on who you ask.”</p><p>“Well, if anyone asks me, I think you’re good.”</p><p>“Aw, thanks. And if anyone asks <em>me</em>, I’ll say you’re just all right.”</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>While Stardust made a guttural chuckle, he flicked his tail against Yusei’s back, causing him to let out a vibration that could almost be called a laugh.</p><p>“I take it back, you’re not good.”</p><p>“You’re right, I’m <em>great</em>.”</p><p>Yusei decided to leave it at that and just rolled his eyes to balance out his weary smile. Then he laid down onto his back and folded his arms under his head. Stardust flexed his wings, which were much wider than his slim body, so they always cast a shadow no matter what position he was in. Yusei liked that. He liked lying down to sleep in that shadow. It gave him the certainty that Stardust was close, and that made him feel safe and at ease. It wasn’t like being held in his parents’ arms, but nothing could be. Still, he was grateful to have someone he could trust, someone who had the effect of lifting his spirits and clearing his heart when they were close.</p><p>Each day and night Yusei lived with Stardust, the more certain he became that he would never be able to part from him. Even when he was ready to interact with humans again, he would still need Stardust. Part of him wondered if Stardust’s magic was rubbing against him and granting him a sense of peace, but he wanted to believe it was a product of the bond between them. After all, his parents had made him feel safe and relaxed as well and <em>they</em> hadn’t had any magic.</p><p>At some point, Yusei felt himself being nudged awake.</p><p>“Hey! Yusei! Wake up.”</p><p>Yusei moaned groggily and rubbed his eyes. “What?”</p><p>“Something’s wrong,” Stardust said, sounding disturbed. “Do you feel these vibrations?”</p><p>Hearing that tone quickly put Yusei on alert. “No, I don’t feel anything.”</p><p>“Really? I’m not talking about <em>magical</em> vibrations. These are in the ground. You really don’t feel these?”</p><p>Yusei frowned to the ground he sat on. He closed his eyes and pressed his hands harder into the dirt. “No,” he confirmed after a moment. “Is it bad?”</p><p>“I don’t know. It’s not an earthquake, but . . .”</p><p>“Should we take a look?”</p><p>“Only from a safe distance. You ready?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>Stardust lowered his long neck against the ground and Yusei jumped to mount himself at the dragon’s shoulders. By now he was quite adept at it. Stardust rose to stand on his hind legs and then launched himself into the air with one leap and a forceful flap of his broad wings. The treetops were quickly below them, and Stardust flew up the side of a large hill.</p><p>When they were high enough to see the other side, the dense forest trees became a sun-scorched canvas stretching all down the slope and through the valley below. Two massive waves of dust rose from opposing directions, each following the at the heels of an army marching toward the other to the sound of trumpets. To Yusei’s eyes, they were almost mirror images: each had straight rows of horses, foot soldiers, halberds, and banners. The only difference was the red theme of one and the blue theme of the other.</p><p>Yusei’s mouth hung as he watched the dust roll and the armies inch closer across their parched battlefield.</p><p>“Hm, looks like Domino and Arachnos are finally going to war,” Stardust mused. “I had a feeling it was only a matter of time until that happened.”</p><p>“What changed?” Yusei wondered.</p><p>“I don’t know. They don’t send me newsletters.”</p><p>“You don’t seem very concerned.”</p><p>“Well, it’s not like it’s got much to do with me.”</p><p>“How? You live here, don’t you?”</p><p>“A technicality. I can live anywhere.”</p><p>“Doesn’t it <em>bother</em> you though?” Yusei persisted.</p><p>“What, war? I mean, I guess. But that’s humans for you.”</p><p>“But what if we could stop it?”</p><p>“Kid, war is way bigger than just you and me. It’s bigger than even a battle like this one. It’s a whole mess of politics and such.”</p><p>“Ok, but what if we could stop <em>this</em>?”</p><p>“Would that really change anything?”</p><p>“Yes! We could stop all these people from dying!”</p><p>“For now. They’ll just end up marching into a different battle later.”</p><p>“Then we stop that one too!”</p><p>Stardust sighed. “You keep saying ‘we’.”</p><p>“That’s because <em>you’re</em> the dragon. You’re the one who has the <em>power</em> to stop them.”</p><p>“Ok, I think you’re overestimating me just a little.”</p><p>“I think you’re <em>under</em>-estimating yourself.”</p><p>“I mean, I could probably make them stop if I <em>blasted</em> them, but I don’t think that’s what you’re going for.”</p><p>“No, I was thinking more like, land between them and scare them enough to make them stop, maybe even run away or something.”</p><p>“Oh <em>brilliant</em>.”</p><p>“It’s what I would do if I was a dragon!”</p><p>“If you were a dragon, you’d know better than to get involved.”</p><p>“No. I’d want to get involved. How else are dragons and humans supposed to live together again if dragons keep staying away?”</p><p>“You do understand <em>why</em> we decided to get away from humans, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, and things are still <em>bad</em>! Leaving didn’t fix anything. If we want things to get better, we have to <em>do</em> something!”</p><p>Stardust sighed. “Aren’t you ambitious.”</p><p>Yusei just gripped tighter on Stardust’s spikes, a reflex of his determination. Stardust sighed again.</p><p>“You don’t see <em>any</em> problem at all with diving nose first into the middle of two armies about to knock the absolute <em>shit</em> out of each other?”</p><p>“I can’t stand to just sit here and <em>watch</em>.”</p><p>“I can just fly us somewhere else.”</p><p>“<em>Stardust</em>.”</p><p>The dragon groaned, though from his long throat it sounded like a rumble of thunder. “<em>Kid</em>. Let’s say we do it, just swoop in and save the damn day. You really think I’m interested in just hopping from battlefield to battlefield until they just give up trying to have a war?”</p><p>“I was <em>actually</em> thinking from here, we could go straight to the king and talk to him about it.”</p><p>Stardust turned his head enough to look at the boy perched on his shoulders. “Did you <em>really </em>just say that?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Incredible. You think it’ll be that simple?”</p><p>“I have no idea what it’ll be. But it’ll be better than doing <em>nothing</em>.”</p><p>“So you say.”</p><p>“Stardust, <em>please</em>?”</p><p>The dragon groaned again and shook his head. This was a reckless and impulsive idea that he was sure would lead to nothing. But you know? What the hell. He liked the kid. He had a good heart, which was why he had been willing to keep him around in the first place. Stardust even admired his visionary thinking. That was the gift of youth that had not yet been jaded by the disappointments of reality. He was still at an age where he could dream big. Stardust didn’t want to be the one to take that away from him.</p><p>“All right, <em>listen</em>,” he said forcefully. “We’re gonna play this smart. If it looks like they’re going to be trouble or they try to attack us, that’s it. Fun’s over. I’m pulling out. End of story. Got it?”</p><p>Stardust felt Yusei’s hands twist as they squeezed his spikes and his whole body shake with excitement. “Yes! Got it!”</p><p>Stardust let out one more sigh. “All right, fine. Fine. Let’s do this.” He oriented himself in the air, and then gave a massive flap of his wings, setting him off like an arrow toward the shrinking center of the battlefield. The sound of thousands of feet marching in time got louder, and then they were washed out by an earsplitting roar. That alone brought the armies to a sudden halt as they looked up, but Stardust didn’t stop there. He took in a deep breath and then heaved a blue fire from his wide, open jaw.</p><p>The fire hit the ground with an explosive force, and he used it to carve the field in half, separating the armies by a wide, steaming gorge. Even if the soldiers had still been intending to march on, which they certainly weren’t, the horses had been too rattled to rein back under control and were breaking the formations with their ruckus. Some of the soldiers in their panic raised their bows and fired at Stardust, though they were quickly told to stop by everyone else around them.</p><p>“Do you <em>want</em> to piss it off?” Yusei could imagine them saying as he watched the dusty commotion. To his eyes, they looked like swarms of ants jumbling in confusion and distress. The scene looked so small from this height.</p><p>From below, however, the chaos was much more palpable. Commander Ushio of King Rex’s army had never seen anything like it. His worst fear was that somehow, the dragon had become an ally of Arachnos, but he dismissed the thought. That wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. (If it <em>was</em>, he reasoned, it would have simply wiped out his men directly rather than merely appear to frighten them.)</p><p>He heard the eerie sound of the dragon’s roar ripple over his body and shake his bones. He didn’t like being afraid, and to push against the feeling—and prove to everyone else that he wasn’t—he drew his sword and pointed it to the sky with a haughty air.</p><p>“Oi! Dragon!” he shouted. “What in the king’s name do you think you’re doing, huh?!”</p><p>Stardust didn’t hear him. However loud his voice might have been, it was weak in the sea of noise erupting from the field. Now that he had caused a stall, Stardust took a minute to study the scene below him. With his keen eyes, he scrutinized each army in a search for those soldiers who looked to be in charge. He made his judgment based on the greater elaboration of their armor and the way they carried themselves with more grandeur than the rest.</p><p>Just as Stardust studied them, Ushio studied the dragon and wondered why it was hovering in the same spot for so long. He didn’t know what to make of it, or of that intense gaze. It made him anxious, but he hid it under a brash posture.</p><p>He was about to shout again, but stopped himself when the dragon made a sudden movement, flapping and folding its wings so it dropped down, down, down. All the soldiers braced themselves for it to land and flaunt its power at their level.</p><p>And then Ushio found himself being yanked from his saddle, his torso caught in the metallic grip of the dragon’s claw. His free legs kicked and dangled as he struggled, but not even his sword could scratch the talons or armored skin around him.</p><p>“HEY!” he shouted wildly as he hacked at the claw and leg. But the dragon gave no sign of noticing him. And eventually he was so disoriented by the speed of their movement and the harsh winds stinging his eyes that he wasn’t sure trying to get free was safer. He could barely see anything through his tight squint, but he could feel the motion as the dragon made a few circles in the air and then swooped down again, making his stomach flip.</p><p>Then he heard another protesting shout and peeked with one eye to see that in the dragon’s opposite claw, another man was caught, this one tall, muscular, tan, and bald.</p><p>“Devak!” he shouted in surprise. Devak, his counterpart among the enemy’s ranks, a general of the Arachnos army.</p><p>His shout was met with a vicious scowl. “<em>What?</em>”</p><p>“Ha! It got you too, huh?”</p><p>“What the hell are you so happy about?”</p><p>At that point, Stardust roared again, hoping to either shut them up or drown them out. But then he also released another blast from deep in his chest, this time less of a fire and more of a sonic boom that cratered the field at the center of its impact and felled all the soldiers with the force of its reverberations. Not even those in the back of the formations could remain on their feet as most men were knocked back into the bodies standing right behind them.</p><p>“We’ll see if they get the message,” Stardust said—in that telepathic way that only Yusei could hear.</p><p>Yusei just nodded as he looked over Stardust’s shoulder, hopeful that they had caused enough of a disturbance to postpone the battle.</p><p>“All right, that was the easy part,” Stardust continued as the men still struggled and shouted—both to him and to each other. “Next comes the diplomacy.”</p><p>Yusei nodded again. “Right.”</p><p>“Arachnos first?”</p><p>Another nod.</p><p>So Stardust set his eyes on the destination, and with his wing power, the flight was quick and straight. He was noticed just before the arrival by guards lining the walls of the castle and those on the ground by the gate. They raised their voices in alarm at the sight of him, and even more when they realized one of their great generals was being carried in his grip.</p><p>Stardust landed heavily with a <em>thump</em> on his hind legs at the castle entrance, the wind from his wings forcing the men to brace themselves or else fall to their backs. Stardust stretched his wings to their full width and then folded them as a sign that he wasn’t there to be aggressive. All of the guards then formed a semicircle in front of him, their halberds pointed toward him, and those on the wall raised their bows in a similar aim.</p><p>“You <em>idiots</em>!” Devak hollered with red-faced anger. “I’m right <em>here</em>! Put your damn weapons down or I’ll kill you myself when I get the chance!”</p><p>With that, all the soldiers nervously and hesitantly lowered their weapons.</p><p>And then Stardust spoke. Out loud.</p><p>“I’m here to see your king,” he announced flatly.</p><p>The soldiers all gasped and buzzed with each other while Yusei asked from behind, “You can <em>talk</em>-talk?”</p><p>“Oh, did I not mention that?” Stardust asked through his usual method.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Hm. Must have slipped my mind.”</p><p>“I’ll bet.”</p><p>“<em>What </em>is going on?” boomed a new voice, and all eyes moved up to find the king standing on the wall right above the closed gate.</p><p>“Your Majesty!” Devak gasped, alarmed to see him standing in the open and embarrassed to be seen himself in such a sorry state. “I—”</p><p>“Hush,” Stardust growled sternly. He looked to the king, who he could stand at eye-level with thanks to his stature. “So, you’re the king around here, right? King Rudger, if I remember correctly?”</p><p>The king had a tight expression as he looked back into Stardust’s solid gold eye. He seemed uncertain what to make of the situation, but realized he couldn’t just stand there silently. “That’s right.”</p><p>“Good. Wonderful. Now listen, I’m here because I’ve got some serious questions for you, and if you’ll do me the favor of giving me answers, I promise I won’t hurt a single person here. Is that acceptable?”</p><p>Having no real choice, the king nodded stiffly. “Yes, I will answer your questions.”</p><p>“Lovely. Now, first and foremost, please explain to me why in the <em>celestial spheres</em> are you working up so much trouble with this nonsense war?”</p><p>“Nonsense?” the king repeated with an insulted sting. “I am trying to protect my people and my land.”</p><p>“Right,” Stardust grumbled cynically. “Because wars never have any casualties or consequences.”</p><p>“Listen, <em>dragon</em>. I have run out of options. My brother has shown a <em>flagrant </em>disregard for some of our pacts, and he has even launched false accusations at me. <em>He</em> is the one who has been building up a pretext to declare war, do you expect me to do <em>nothing</em>?”</p><p>“You <em>liar</em>!”</p><p>Ushio’s protest came out hot and fierce, and all eyes turned to see his flustered face. “Don’t you play the victim here. <em>You’re</em> the one who ordered an assassination on King Rex!” He kicked his loose legs again as Stardust held him tight and shook his fist threateningly.</p><p>Rudger lifted his broad shoulders defiantly and frowned. “Don’t <em>you</em> act as if you know the truth! I have <em>never</em> desired conflict with my brother, and I never ordered any assassination.”</p><p>“You’re <em>lying</em>!” Ushio was fuming in a rage. “I saw the evidence! That assassin had a dagger with an Arachnos crest engraved in the hilt, and a letter with <em>your seal</em> on it! And anyway, you’ve been trying to take land from Domino for <em>years</em>!”</p><p>Rudger narrowed his eyes and his nostrils flared, but he maintained his composure. “Clearly you have no interest in hearing any version of things other than what you already believe. But,” he said, shifting his eyes back to Stardust, “the <em>dragon</em> knows I speak the truth. Isn’t that so?”</p><p>Stardust paused to look hard at Rudger, who faced him confidently. “Well, you’re not telling any lies,” he confirmed, to Ushio’s surprise. “<em>But</em>. You’re also <em>hiding</em> some of the truth.”</p><p>Rudger’s lips twitched, the only movement in his stone-like stance. Neither king nor dragon blinked as they stared at each other in a silence that spread tension through the whole audience. Finally, the king gave his answer, in a soft voice meant for only the dragon.</p><p>“What I haven’t told you is not a matter to be shared with the public.”</p><p>Ushio whipped his head toward Devak. “Hey! What’d he say?”</p><p>“None of your business!” Devak snapped back, not revealing that he too had not heard.</p><p>“I see,” Stardust said slowly. “Then I suppose we need to get a little more <em>cozy</em> before we can move forward, yes?”</p><p>“Are you inviting yourself inside?” Rudger asked.</p><p>“Not quite. I’m inviting <em>you</em> to come with me to Domino. And you can’t decline. Hey, Yusei,” he called, turning his head. “Make some room. Mister <em>King</em> here is going to be joining you.”</p><p>“Huh? Who’s <em>Yusei</em>?” Ushio asked, craning his head up. At that point, Yusei leaned over the side of Stardust’s neck and waved to the two generals caught in Stardust’s claws. Ushio’s jaw dropped “<em>Haaaa!?!</em> There’s a <em>kid</em> up there?”</p><p>“How long has he been there?” Devak demanded. They had all been so distracted by their condition that they hadn’t noticed the boy perched tight against the dragon’s shoulders.</p><p>“May I ask who this boy is?” Rudger asked politely. To his eyes, this boy <em>Yusei</em> looked a bit worse for wear. He had scrapes on his skin and dirt in his hair, and the overall appearance of a youth raised in the wild. Rudger might have thought him feral, except the intelligence in his eyes was undeniable, and he was wearing manmade clothing that, however unkempt it was, seemed to fit him well enough.</p><p>“He’s a lot of things,” Stardust replied. “But ask him yourself. It’ll give you something to do on the way.”</p><p>Rudger’s eyes held Yusei’s, and for a long moment he just stood in thought. Guards and advisors approached him from both sides, urging him not to go, but he barely heard them. This was too intriguing. If such an extraordinary thing was going to occur, who was he to reject it?</p><p>“Very well,” he agreed, provoking gasps from his men.</p><p>“Sire!”</p><p>Rudger finally turned his eyes to the men lined up to his right and raised a curious brow. “Which one of you is willing to look this dragon in the eye and refuse it?”</p><p>At that, they all shrank, casting nervous glances in every direction except toward either their king or the dragon. Satisfied by this response, Rudger returned his eyes to the dragon, who declared, “Fantastic. Then it looks like we’re all ready.”</p><hr/><p>Rudger realized quickly that he liked flying. Even while clinging to the smooth neck in a somewhat precarious position, the thrill of gliding high through the air and being able to look down over his domain gave him a rousing sensation of power. In contrast, the boy seemed at ease, as if he was merely riding atop a horse and traversing the land as usual. Despite the dragon’s suggestion, Rudger had not engaged the boy in conversation—their positions made such a feat too awkward, and the boy himself seemed unbothered by the silence.</p><p>When he wasn’t snatching curious glances of the boy from over his shoulder, Rudger was busy admiring the view of the forest and all its diverse foliage, the villages spread out among large and uncultivated fields, the thin dirt paths that connected them and the larger, more established roads that led to the city. Within those places, some of the people could be seen going about their lives, though to Rudger’s eyes they were hardly people, more like colorful specks, and their horses and wagons little bugs moving at a slow and leisurely pace, as if the war had no bearing on them whatsoever. Such a marvel how different citizens in the same country could be experiencing such different lives.</p><p>It was a surreal image to behold, and humbling to see how beautiful and <em>fragile</em> it was. Within the thick, stone walls of his castle, he could feel safe, but all this land, all these people were vulnerable. Safe for now, perhaps, but one wave of soldiers could devastate it all. And as thrilling as power could be, it was entirely conditional, dependent on his ability to protect those whom he had power over. Being a king of a graveyard meant nothing, so he hoped that this dragon’s interference was a blessing sent from above to prevent the catastrophe of war.</p><p>Eventually Stardust crossed the border between Arachnos and Domino, and from there it wasn’t much longer for him to reach the heart of that kingdom. There was no way the castle could have known he was coming, and yet the archers lining the outer walls were prepared to welcome him with a swarm of flying arrows. He swerved and flew higher, but some managed to pierce and graze him, and he felt their touch like a hot brand. His growl haunted the castle with its reverberating choir of tones, but the assault continued.</p><p>“How annoying,” Stardust muttered privately to Yusei.</p><p>“Are you ok?” Yusei asked, and Rudger was so preoccupied he didn’t hear.</p><p>“I guess. But those arrows have magic in them. And it’s a little more tricky right now trying to make sure none of <em>you</em> get hit.”</p><p>Yusei clenched his jaw, not wanting his friend to get hurt. But then he heard the dragon snort daringly and a laugh strike sharply in his head.</p><p>“These guys sure are full of themselves. I’ll show them who they’re dealing with!”</p><p>Hearing that his friend was taking this as a challenge and not an excuse for pulling out—as he had earlier warned—gave Yusei some hope. If Stardust had truly felt in danger, he wouldn’t sound so sportive.</p><p>“Hey Ushio!” Devak shouted. “Tell your people to stop <em>shooting</em> at us, will you?”</p><p>“‘Us’? They can shoot at <em>you</em> as much as they want for all I care!”</p><p>“You worthless piece of shit!”</p><p>“<em>Hush</em>, children,” Stardust snarled, and then made his decisive move. At the next volley of arrows, Stardust flapped his wings hard enough to scatter them all with the wind, and then he sped through that opening over the wall and up to the main castle doors. As the people within the keep shouted and scrambled to get out of the dragon’s way, Stardust tossed both Ushio and Devak into the few packs of soldiers who were brave—or stupid—enough to come <em>toward</em> him, their weapons raised. Each man landed in the bellies of the front soldiers, and the force knocked them all to the ground, giving Stardust a chance to let loose a roar to the sky powerful enough to shake the castle stones.</p><p>“Don’t move!” he boomed. “And if you shoot at me one more time, I <em>will</em> eat you!”</p><p>Everyone complied, soldiers and castle residents alike, holding their place where they stood. The soldiers all looked at each other, waiting for someone to give a command—someone <em>else</em> besides the dragon, a superior whose lead they were trained to follow.</p><p>As they all wavered nervously, Stardust lifted one of his now empty claws and held it up to his neck to let Rudger grab hold. He lowered the king to the ground himself while Yusei stayed in place on his shoulders. Which was fine. As long as he stayed there, Stardust could launch out at any moment if he needed to.</p><p>“Where’s that king of yours?” he asked to the anxious crowd. “I’ve got business with him.”</p><p>No one seemed certain what to do or say. His answer was silent, awkward glances, until Ushio finally got back to his feet. “Hey!” he shouted in his aggressive manner. “Someone go find the king and tell him the situation!”</p><p>Murmurs suddenly rose from the soldiers, questions like, “Isn’t that Commander Ushio?” and “Did he come here <em>with</em> that dragon?”</p><p>“NOW!”</p><p>All the soldiers jumped and some even began to rush toward the castle, though with cautious glances at the dragon for confirmation that movement was acceptable.</p><p>Then came another voice. “No need for that.”</p><p>All eyes turned to find the silver-haired king stepping out onto the high balcony over the front doors of the castle, taking in the scene with a firmly cool gaze. Stardust wasn’t struck by his composure nearly as much as he was by the king’s garish crown. It was unnecessarily large, rich in gold, and lined with jewels that were definitely <em>not </em>ordinary. The nimbus of magic emanating from it made Stardust’s hackles rise and his lips part to reveal his teeth.</p><p>“Your Majesty!” Ushio stuttered, snapping into a salute and then a flustered bow.</p><p>“Hello, brother,” Rudger greeted, looking up to Rex with a cool gaze that mirrored his.</p><p>“Hmm. I see you have brought an interesting companion with you.”</p><p>“<em>No</em>,” Stardust interjected. “<em>I</em> brought <em>him</em>.”</p><p>Rex looked at the dragon curiously. “I see. And what, exactly, has brought you here?”</p><p>“Business.”</p><p>“So I heard. What kind of business?”</p><p>“Diplomatic business.”</p><p>“Hmm. And who do you come here to represent in this diplomacy?”</p><p>“Everyone who’s going to have to deal with the aftermath of this damn <em>war</em> you two are eager to start.”</p><p>“I am eager to start no war,” Rex said, too smoothly for Stardust’s liking. “But I cannot abide an assassination attempt, not even by my own brother.”</p><p>“Oh, well, then good thing your brother had nothing to do with that.”</p><p>Rex raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Then why do I have his assassin locked up in my dungeon?”</p><p>“You’ve got <em>someone</em> down there,” Stardust conceded, reading in his heart that that much was true, “but it’s no one your brother here hired.”</p><p>Rex shifted his steely eyes from the dragon to his brother, who stood below watching him with a firm expression. After a moment he said, “Let’s say for just a moment that I believe you.” His eyes moved back to the dragon. “What then?”</p><p>“Then we all sit down and have a nice long <em>chat</em> to sort this mess out and come to some kind of agreement that keeps you from trampling the whole damn country and then setting it on fire.”</p><p>“Hm.” Rex held his hands together behind his straight back and stood still, his face unreadable. The entire population of the castle seemed to hold their breath as they waited. Then Rex raised out one hand. “Well, you’ve come all this way. How can I refuse to at least hear you out?”</p><p>To be honest, Rex gave Stardust a creepy sensation under his skin, and that only made him think that maybe keeping an eye on him was a good idea after all.</p><p>“The only problem is,” Rex continued, “I don’t believe our doors are big enough to let you in.”</p><p>“Oh, that’s no problem at all,” Stardust answered dismissively. “I can just listen in from a window. This one here is the one who <em>really</em> wanted to talk to you.”</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>With that, Yusei hopped off of Stardust’s shoulders, revealing himself to the king who had not been able to see him from behind Stardust’s neck.</p><p>“Oh? And who might you be?” Rex asked.</p><p>“My name is Yusei. I’m from Satellite.”</p><p>Disapproving murmurs quickly spread through the people, and Stardust brought them to a sudden halt with his glaring eyes and rumbling growl.</p><p>“Satellite,” Rex repeated thoughtfully. “You’re a long way from home, then.”</p><p>“Maybe you haven’t heard, but Satellite was completely burned down some weeks ago.”</p><p>“Hm,” Rex said, looking into the face of the dirty but dignified boy. “A tragedy.”</p><p>Yusei frowned but kept his anger to a simmer. It <em>was</em> a tragedy, despite the insincerity of the king’s tone.</p><p>“And you wanted to speak with me?” Rex continued when Yusei stayed silent.</p><p>Yusei nodded. “Yes.”</p><p>The murmurs were quieter this time, but no less disapproving. Yusei ignored them and kept his gaze firmly directed up to the king.</p><p>“Hm. Well, as I said, you’ve come all this way. I will meet with you—the three of you. Please, bring my brother and Yusei to the throne room.” With his command given, Rex turned to enter the door behind him, confident that someone would jump to carry out his will.</p><p>Yusei looked up to Stardust, who made a motion like a shrug. “All right kid, let’s see how this goes.”</p><p>Yusei nodded, and then a soldier appeared before him, announcing that he would guide King Rudger and the boy inside.</p><p>“Hey,” Stardust called to him, causing the man to jump. “Where’s a good window I can join from?”</p><p>After receiving his directions, Stardust began a gentle drift from the castle doors around to another side while Rudger and Yusei followed their guide, both with backs straight and a stride of determination. When they arrived in the spacious throne room, Rex dismissed the guide and had him shut the great doors behind him, leaving the three humans alone and the dragon peeking in through an open window—so tall it was nearly floor-to-ceiling—while clinging to the outer stones with all four claws.</p><p>“So, if I understand the dragon correctly,” Rex began, facing the others with his hands latched against his back, “the story here begins with you.” Rex was twice Yusei’s height, but that didn’t seem to impress the boy. He looked up into Rex’s eyes with no hint of intimidation, as if the two were in fact equals.</p><p>“I only want to prevent what happened to Satellite from happening to the rest of Domino—and Arachnos,” he added with a look towards Rudger. “Whatever conflicts there are between you two, I want to resolve them so that no one has to die.”</p><p>“That’s a pretty sentiment,” Rex said blandly, and Yusei couldn’t be sure if he was serious or mocking. “But sometimes that is unavoidable.”</p><p>“You say that, but you’re not the ones out there in battle. You’re not the ones risking your lives even though the fight is between <em>you</em>. How is that fair? How is that just?”</p><p>“We are <em>kings</em>,” Rex answered simply. “It is the role of our soldiers to fight for us.”</p><p>“And who are you that they should die for you?” Yusei retorted. His tone wasn’t disrespectful, merely blunt. Neither Rex nor Rudger could respond quickly to such a bizarre question, and Yusei was able to continue. “Do they fight for you because they love you, or do they fight for the <em>idea</em> of a king? There are ideas I would fight for, but a <em>king</em> isn’t one of them.”</p><p>“And what would you fight for?” Rex could have easily dismissed the audacious child who spoke out of place, but he was intrigued, if for no other reason than he seemed to be familiar with a dragon.</p><p>“Justice,” Yusei answered without hesitation. “And peace. So that everyone can be happy.”</p><p>Rex’s lips cracked into a small smile. “I see.”</p><p>“I know you don’t take me seriously. But that’s why I’m here. That’s why I asked Stardust to try to stop this war. I don’t want to see all the suffering it will cause.”</p><p>The brothers both stared at Yusei’s earnest face until the voice of the dragon appeared again. “Yeah, and let me just make one think <em>abundantly </em>clear,” he said tartly. “I would much rather do things the <em>easy </em>way and just solve all this nonsense by biting off both your heads. I don’t think armies go to war if they don’t have a king to fight for. I’m only going through all this extra trouble because <em>this </em>stubborn little kid thinks we can solve problems <em>without violence</em>. So you can either prove that he's naïve and we move on to <em>my </em>way of doing things, or you can stick to the current method and prove that I’m a hardened cynic.”</p><p>Rex shifted his gaze to Rudger, who did the same.</p><p>“Well, brother,” Rex said with a mock invitation. “Can we solve our differences? Or are you still, right here and now, seeking an opportunity to kill me?”</p><p>“I have <em>never</em> wanted to kill you, brother,” Rudger countered. “I don’t know who it is you have captured. However, I <em>do</em> know that <em>you</em> have stolen something from <em>me</em>.”</p><p>A silence fell on the room as the brother kings stared motionless at each other. The air between them was so intense Yusei wondered if they were speaking to each other the same way he did with Stardust.</p><p>“And is that worth going to war for?” Rex finally asked quietly, though still with a provocative edge.</p><p>“Depending on how you intend to use it,” Rudger responded with a hard voice, “yes.”</p><p>Rex made a small half-smile. “Don’t you trust me?”</p><p>“You make it very difficult.”</p><p>“And what would make it <em>easier</em> for you?”</p><p>“It would help if, in general, you weren’t so <em>secretive</em>. And if you would return the book to me.”</p><p>Stardust’s great heart bungeed down into his stomach as an image flashed into his mind. The book. He saw it as their minds both summoned it in their own. And it was <em>that</em> book.</p><p>He blew a steamy breath through the window, ruffling the luxurious fabric of the kings’ robes. “<em>Actually</em>,” he interjected, his voice low and dark like an ominous storm cloud, “I think you should give it to <em>me</em>.”</p><p>The three humans all looked toward the window. Rex’s lips went thin and tight.</p><p>“Well,” he began slowly, “I can appreciate why you would think that. However, I acquired it through great pains, and I cannot part with such a valuable tool. I believe it can serve as . . . an <em>equalizer</em>, should any of your kind turn against us.”</p><p>Stardust bared his teeth and steam hissed out from the sides of his jaw. “You think of us as bloodthirsty, savage beasts?” he demanded.</p><p>“Certainly not,” Rex denied calmly. “But it would only take <em>one</em> of you to level this castle if the whim occurred, and I don’t much like the idea of living in constant fear of that possibility.”</p><p>“That book is <em>sacred</em>,” Stardust snarled. “And you have no right to it.” Not only because if he had it, that meant it had been <em>stolen</em> from its resting place, but because these were <em>humans</em>. They should not have in their possession <em>any</em> magic, let alone magic that ancient and powerful. And Stardust had a suspicion that it was related to the fact that the weapons Rex’s soldiers had were <em>clearly</em> enchanted, if the sting he had felt from the arrows was any indication.</p><p>Rex stared into the dragon’s accusing eyes with stoic composure, and it was clear he was thinking carefully as he chose his next words. Rudger stood by, waiting to see what excuse he would come up it.</p><p>“I will concede that it is a significant relic for your kind. However, you have been keeping it hidden for who knows how long, while <em>I</em> intend to put it to use. And I think, regardless of origins, that <em>grants</em> me the right to it now.”</p><p>Stardust seethed, his lips peeled back and a growl vibrating through his exposed teeth. Had the window not been too small for him to squeeze through, Rex’s head would have been in danger of being bitten clean off his shoulders.</p><p>“You’re not using it to defend yourself, as you say,” Rudger countered, speaking up. “That’s clear enough from the crown you flaunt on your head.”</p><p>Rex kept his face tightly controlled, revealing nothing in his eyes.</p><p>Stardust also stamped down his anger. There was still the possibility of accomplishing something here, but if he blew up now, the attempt at diplomacy would end, and the war could spiral out of control into something far, far worse.</p><p>“Let me give you some advice, from an outsider’s perspective,” the dragon murmured. “This land, and everyone in it, has a chance to thrive. I know many dragons are cynical when it comes to humans, but I’m still willing and able to hope. As of right now, my kind simply wants to keep our distance from you, but should you start something that even smells of a threat, I can promise you that they will not stay away for very long.”</p><p>Rex’s hands tightened their grip behind his back, and his temples twitched as he clenched his jaw. Subtle movements, but easy enough to discern against his statuesque stance.</p><p>“We have no intention of letting you corrupt the land,” Stardust continued. “You may build your castles and cities and kingdoms, but we live longer than most of your buildings stand. To us, this land is more our home than it is yours, and we <em>will</em> protect it from harm.”</p><p>Rex’s shoulders never sagged. He held them straight at all times, and they seemed broad enough that Yusei could have sat comfortably on one. “Let’s say,” he began—again, slowly and carefully—“that I gave it to you. Do you have anything to offer as a replacement?”</p><p>“You don’t <em>need</em> a replacement,” Stardust said, keeping the thought to himself that he was not interested in giving humans magic. “If you don’t cause trouble, dragons will not bring trouble to you.”</p><p>“And what if I want an advantage against attacks from <em>men</em>?”</p><p>Stardust resisted the urge to groan in disgust. Humans. Always thinking about conflict. Why couldn’t they just live their own lives without disturbing anyone or anything else? The <em>ego</em> such small, weak creatures could have was astounding.</p><p>“Then call for <em>me</em>,” he answered when he was ready to be serious again.</p><p>“You?”</p><p>As the kings looked to Stardust curiously, Yusei’s eyes went wide under his high brows. “You?” his face asked on its own.</p><p>“Yes, me. And I don’t mean to say that I’ll fight on your behalf,” he clarified. “You already admitted that one of my kind could level your castle. Well <em>I’m</em> one of my kind. If I show up, I’m sure I can <em>persuade</em> everyone to calm down and go back home.”</p><p>Rex closed his eyes and turned to take a few slow paces away so he could think to himself. His tight hands were visible to the others, and they could see his shoulders rise with his deep breath. A dark cloud shifted around his body, though only the dragon’s eyes could perceive it.</p><p>Stardust hummed to himself, though to the humans it sounded like an echo of thunder across the hills. “What is this struggle I see in you?” he asked pointedly.</p><p>Rex turned halfway to look at him, his face finally showing a crease of emotion. His brow furrowed, his lips frowned, his nose wrinkled in disgust. And then his lips peeled back much like Stardust’s, showing his teeth.</p><p>“No,” he murmured darkly. “It’s <em>mine</em>.” Stardust saw the cloud around him grow darker and more agitated. “I’ve <em>earned</em> it.” As Rex completed his turn to face to dragon, his voice went deeper and small veins began to crawl at the edges of his face. “And I won’t let it go!”</p><p>Then it wasn’t just a cloud of dark thoughts swishing around him: Stardust saw a bulb of magic ignite behind Rex’s back in one of his hands. Well, at least it was the<em> king</em> who had failed at their diplomacy.</p><p>From the window, he sucked in a deep breath and warned into Yusei’s mind, “Get down.” As the king pulled out his weaponized hand, Yusei dropped flat against the ground and Stardust erupted with a roar that sent Rex flying backward all the way to the wall. Rudger too was knocked aside, but Stardust wasn’t giving him much thought. Some of the tiles in the floor broke out of place while iron candle stands toppled sideways and heavy tapestries shook wildly against the walls.</p><p>Rex looked up when the roar stopped. The dragon was glaring at him, his nostrils steaming, and Rex’s magic had been snuffed out. He was defenseless, caught at a disadvantage now that his surprise attack had failed, and even worse, he realized that somehow, he had become paralyzed.</p><p>Yusei dared to lift his face from the floor and looked across the great room toward Rex, who sat crumpled against the far wall, his head leaning back and his eyes shining above parted lips. Rudger too pushed himself up off his back and looked to his brother, and the expression Rex wore was so foreign to him that he froze. Rex had the look of a mystic enraptured in some vision, his steely eyes polished bright into wonder.</p><p>Yusei twisted his neck to catch a glimpse of Stardust, and that allowed him to see his friend reach one claw through the window. He then noticed a trail of liquid shadow stream into the center of his talons, and he twisted his neck again to follow it to the source, which appeared to be Rex. The shadow began its journey across the room from the air around his body, and when the last of it was drained out, Yusei followed the tail with his eyes all the way to Stardust’s claw, where it had all accumulated into a writhing miasma. The dragon opened his mouth and spat out a sharp, blue flame, which immediately engulfed the darkness and caused it to erupt into a sparkling display of tiny fragments, all of which faded before reaching the ground.</p><p>Rex’s eyes returned to normal, and as he blinked, he raised a hand to his face without seeming conscious of the action. He touched his cheek, and it was only when he looked down to his fingertips that he seemed to realize a few stray tears had slipped from his eyes.</p><p>Yusei and Rudger both looked at him with some caution, but Rudger dared to approach him. “Rex?” he called as his brother began to rise slowly to his feet. “Are you all right?”</p><p>Rex reached his full height, and his face became clearer to Rudger as he got closer. It was much smoother now, the bulging veins and deep creases from earlier gone, giving Rex a much calmer appearance, as opposed to the tightly controlled stoicism he usually carried himself with.</p><p>First he met his brother’s eyes, and Rudger was taken aback by the gleam he saw. It had been some time since he had felt a genuine brotherly affection from Rex, as he did now. Then Rex shifted his gaze to the window across the room, but his answer was for Rudger. “I feel refreshed,” he said reassuringly, and even his voice sounded different, like all the tension had eased out and he was almost sighing with relief.</p><p>“Well, all that magic you had built up was practically toxic to you,” Stardust snorted.</p><p>“Hm,” Rex responded thoughtfully. “So I see.”</p><p>“You’re lucky you were still in a condition to have it removed.”</p><p>“Mm. And I must also count myself fortunate that you were willing to remove it.”</p><p>“<em>This</em> time. You go meddling in magic again and I might not be so inclined to give you another chance.”</p><p>Rex smiled graciously. “I will keep that in mind.”</p><p>Stardust could read that Rex’s aura was indeed clear and his emotions steady and honest. So at least for now Stardust could trust that he no longer had any corrupted thoughts and intentions. He responded with another snort of approval.</p><p>“And I will return the book to you,” Rex added, raising his hand over his heart and giving the dragon a humble and apologetic bow. After raising his head again, he asked, “Can I still count on your assistance should this kingdom face a threat?”</p><p>Behind him, Stardust’s tail was flicking back and forth. “You can,” he confirmed, hiding his awe at how <em>smoothly</em> this was all going—overall. He didn’t want to give the impression that this wasn’t perfectly under his wise control.</p><p>Then Rex turned to his brother. “Do you have any objections?”</p><p>Rudger let loose a laugh. “No, I do not. I will not stand in the way of a dragon and his precious heirloom, despite all my curiosity. I would rather they take it back than for it to remain a temptation for us.” He turned to Stardust as well. “May I also request your assistance, should Arachnos ever be threatened?”</p><p>Stardust snorted. “I hardly recognize that there is a border between you. To me, there is just one land, and I will protect it.”</p><p>Rudger smiled wryly. “Fair enough.”</p><p>Rex then turned bodily to face his brother and clasped his hands behind his back. “Rudger,” he said softly. “I have no excuse for what came over me. Thinking of what I have done, and what I almost did to you . . . I must apologize. I was not myself, but the damage was very real. If you would be willing, I would very much like for us to become brothers again, along with our kingdoms. Allies as close as family, as it should be.”</p><p>Rex reached out a hopeful hand, and Rudger looked down at it. At first there was a tense silence as Rudger seemed to merely consider it, but then he looked up into Rex’s eyes and grinned, and disregarding his brother’s hand, he reached out with both arms and embraced him, clapping his hand hard against Rex’s broad back.</p><p>“As it should be, yes,” he agreed. “I would very much like to forget the conflicts that came between us.”</p><p>“That’s fine, but don’t forget anything I said!” Stardust interjected.</p><p>The brothers turned in unison to look at him. “How could we possibly forget any word spoken to us by a dragon?” Rex asked with a smirk.</p><p>“Hm! Well, I <em>do</em> make a strong impression.”</p><p>“Truly.”</p><p>Stardust finally looked down to Yusei, who was standing on his feet now, his eyes shining and his smile beaming up toward him. Stardust could read the joy in his aura, as well as his overwhelming gratitude. “I <em>knew </em>you could do it!” his heart celebrated.</p><p>Stardust wasn’t one to forego a boost to his ego, but seeing Yusei standing there, no longer surrounded by untamed forest but in the middle of human civilization, brought a dampening weight to his vanity. He lifted his eyes from Yusei back to Rex.</p><p>“One more thing,” he said.</p><p>“And what might that be?” Rex asked.</p><p>Stardust nodded to Yusei, gesturing to him with his long snout. “That kid’s village was completely burned down,” he reminded. “He’s got no home, but he’s looking for a woman named Martha who lives here. I’d like you to help him find her.”</p><p>As he spoke, Yusei’s joy transformed into wide-eyed panic. Before Rex could even agree, he shouted, “No!” Despite his small body, his voice came out loud enough to fill the hall. “No no no! I didn’t say I wanted to leave you yet!”</p><p>Stardust looked down at him and ruffled his wings. “But kid, we’re <em>here</em>. You got what you wanted. Isn’t it time you get back to a human life?”</p><p>Yusei stubbornly shook his head. “I <em>like</em> living with you! Why are you trying to get rid of me all of a sudden?”</p><p>“That’s not what I’m doing,” Stardust protested. “I’m trying to think about what’s best for <em>you</em>.”</p><p>“Well why don’t you ask me what <em>I</em> think is best for me!?”</p><p>“Because you’re a <em>kid</em>. Kids always want things that aren’t good for them.”</p><p>“Are you saying you’re not good for me?”</p><p>“<em>No</em>,” Stardust groaned. “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just saying there are some things I can’t do for you, and maybe humans would be better for that.”</p><p>“But you can teach me <em>so many things</em> that no one else can!”</p><p>“There’s more to life than just <em>learning</em>. You want to change the world, right?”</p><p>“Yeah . . .”</p><p>“Then you should probably be <em>part</em> of it, right? You gotta make connections, make a reputation for yourself. You can’t solve everything by just swooping in out of nowhere and playing hero.”</p><p>“But that’s exactly what we just did!”</p><p>“And now everything’s totally fixed, right?” Stardust asked sarcastically. “We got two brothers to get along, and now the world is set right? Not every problem out there is the big explosive kind that you can stop in a single moment. There are a <em>lot</em> of problems that are deep and wide-spread, and not one instance is going to fix it. So if you want to change the world, you’re going to have to get real involved and dirty because there are a <em>lot</em> of ugly roots out there and it’s going to take you a <em>long</em> time to yank them out, one by one, wherever you find them.”</p><p>Yusei stared up at Stardust, tears in his eyes, his brow furrowed, and his lips set in a hard frown.</p><p>“Think you’re up for that?” Stardust asked when Yusei was too clamped up to speak.</p><p>Yusei quickly raised an arm and wiped his eyes with the back of his wrist. Then still frowning at Stardust, though now his lips were trembling, he said, “I don’t want to say goodbye.”</p><p>Stardust didn’t either, honestly. But with these events, Yusei had actually made him feel hope, real hope. So he wanted Yusei to get what he needed to accomplish as much good as he could. If it was just a matter of traveling and being together, Stardust wouldn’t have been so insistent. But now he believed the little kid might actually grow up to be a hero, and he didn’t want to hold him back.</p><p>“It’s not <em>goodbye</em>-goodbye,” Stardust said reassuringly. “I’m not leaving you forever.”</p><p>Yusei’s frown lessened. “You mean that?”</p><p>“Do I ever lie?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“<em>No</em>! I don’t <em>lie</em>. I <em>joke</em>, but I don’t <em>lie</em>. And I’m not joking right now. Here,” he said, reaching through the window with one arm and extending an open claw. Yusei peered into Stardust’s palm and found a pendant in the shape of a fang waiting for him. “Take it.”</p><p>Curiously, Yusei stepped forward and picked it up, admiring his first gift from Stardust. “Thank you,” he said softly.</p><p>“You can use it to call me,” Stardust explained.</p><p>Yusei’s eyes snapped upward. “<em>Really</em>?”</p><p>“I’m still not joking.”</p><p>“How do I use it?” Yusei asked excitedly.</p><p>“Just hold it and say my name. No matter where I am, I’ll hear you.”</p><p>“<em>Wow.</em>”</p><p>“Don’t go using it every fifteen minutes though,” Stardust warned. “I want you to live your life, and anyway I’m not a dog. So just call for me when you really need me.”</p><p>Yusei looked at the fang he held tenderly in his palm, and then he curled his fingers around it and pressed his fist to his heart. “All right,” he agreed solemnly. “But when I’m ready, when I’m strong enough, will you take me with you again? I don’t want to change the world by myself. I want us to do it together.”</p><p>Stardust pulled his lips back into a sharp-toothed grin. “Kid, I wouldn’t miss the chance to do that with you, not for anything.”</p><p>And then Yusei was smiling again, feeling reassured and hopeful again. Behind him, the two kings were watching with deep fascination. When it seemed that the matter between them had been settled, Rex spoke up. “I would certainly like to be of any assistance I can to Yusei, beginning with finding this Martha, and anything more beyond that.”</p><p>“And maybe we could ask for your assistance with one more thing as well?” Rudger added.</p><p>“Oh? What else can I do for you?” Stardust asked curiously.</p><p>“Well, Rex still has that assassin sitting in prison. I think it would do a lot of good to clear up the mystery of who he is. If you could speak to him and discern the truth . . .”</p><p>“Ah, right, yes,” Stardust said, remembering that piece of the whole ordeal. “Well, I can’t say I’m not curious myself. Sure, let’s find out what this attempted murderer is up to.”</p><hr/><p>After agreeing to make an official announcement of the reconciliation and end to the war <em>after</em> they had gotten the information they sought, Rex summoned Ushio and gave him the task of bringing the prisoner to the throne room where they would be waiting. In that empty moment, Yusei turned to Stardust.</p><p>“Hey, I’ve been wondering.”</p><p>“Not <em>again</em>.”</p><p>“<em>Shush</em>,” Yusei snapped to keep the dragon from derailing with more jests. “And <em>yes</em>. I was <em>wondering</em> how you can know if someone is lying?”</p><p>“It’s nothing special,” Stardust answered, making his half of the conversation private inside Yusei’s head. “I just can. Like being able to see color. Wait, you <em>can</em> see color, right?”</p><p>“You <em>know</em> I can.”</p><p>“Ah yes, right, right,” Stardust said, exaggerating just to poke under Yusei’s skin. The boy just pursed his lips, pretending that he wasn’t amused.</p><p>“So what does it look like to you?” he asked after a moment.</p><p>“Hmm. Ok, so you know how sometimes you can see light? I mean like, actual beams of light, like when they come through a window or stretch over a mountain when the sun is behind it?”</p><p>Yusei nodded.</p><p>“Ok, well it’s kind of like that. People have that kind of aura around them, and it’s kind of shiny and translucent, and pretty subtle most of the time, really. But depending on what’s going on inside your head, the aura can shift and change color. It’ll start vibrating or spinning, or cloud up so it’s more like smoke than light. Someone who has a clear heart will have a clear, shiny aura, and someone who has bad intentions will look like they’re inside a little black fire. And then on top of that, of course, I can take a look at people’s actual thoughts.”</p><p>“That’s <em>amazing</em>.”</p><p>“Mm, I guess, if you’re not used to it,” Stardust said flippantly.</p><p>“What does <em>my</em> aura look like?”</p><p>“Very shiny and colorless. So kind of boring, but in a <em>good</em> way. It’s pretty rare to see one <em>that</em> clear.”</p><p>Yusei grinned at this news.</p><p>“Hopefully you can keep it that way.”</p><p>“I will!” Yusei vowed enthusiastically.</p><p>“I’ll let you know.” Stardust definitely intended to keep an eye on it as Yusei grew. “By the way, did you know humans who have a strong enough aura can even get a special kind of magic?”</p><p>“<em>Really</em>?”</p><p>“Mm. It’s possible.”</p><p>“Wow.”</p><p>“Might not want to spread that around though. Don’t want to make people look at you different for that.”</p><p>Yusei nodded.</p><p>And at that point, the doors to the throne room opened, and in came Ushio and another guard, pulling the prisoner inside between them. Yusei was rather surprised to see he was fairly young. Yusei had expected a grown man like the kings, but this man wasn’t that much older than himself, most likely a late teen, <em>maybe</em> as much as twenty. He was tall, thin, and showed the wear of being kept locked away beneath the ground. His burgundy hair fell down his neck just past his shoulders, and his bangs hung long and were brushed to cover the whole right side of his face. And even seeing only one of his green eyes, Yusei observed an intense hatred in his gaze as he looked to the kings standing ahead.</p><p>Though when he noticed there was a dragon poking its head through an open window, his bloodlust ebbed to make room for the startled jump of his brows.</p><p>“You have a <em>dragon</em>?” he blurted.</p><p>“No one <em>has</em> a dragon,” Stardust retorted indignantly. “I’m here of my own free will, thank you very much.”</p><p>The young man’s eyes also caught Yusei’s, and though he stood out as a strange feature in the castle, he was the least of the prisoner’s concerns.</p><p>“We have a question for <em>you</em> now,” Rudger said in his commanding deep voice.</p><p>He snapped his eyes back to the kings, and just as quickly as it had left, his malicious scowl returned. “What?” he snapped.</p><p>“Why did you attempt to kill my brother?” Rudger asked, frowning into the young man’s vicious glare.</p><p>“I was just doing what I was told, like a good soldier.”</p><p>“And <em>who</em> told you to do it?”</p><p>“I don’t know. But he had the letter and the dagger, so I didn’t argue.”</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>The young man visibly ground his teeth. Then he muttered, “I didn’t have a choice. It was either kill or be killed.”</p><p>Stardust watched closely, and he could tell the man’s words were littered with half-truths and evasions. Both Rudger and Rex looked to him for his assessment, and he answered their look with, “Keep asking questions.”</p><p>“Why is that dragon here?” the man demanded.</p><p>“He is here to assist with this interrogation,” Rex answered calmly.</p><p>“I’ll help too!” Ushio offered zealously. “I can beat the truth out of him.”</p><p>The young man snarled, “You disgusting <em>savage</em>. You’re only good at violence, aren’t you?”</p><p>“That won’t be necessary,” Rex said before Ushio could strike back.</p><p>“Why do you have such strong, personal feelings toward my brother?” Rudger asked, speaking next. “I can see it plainly on your face that this was not a simple case of following orders.”</p><p>The young man bared his teeth and he seethed out a hiss. “Because he,” he started, but then turned his eyes to Rex directly. “Because <em>you</em>—you left me on my own! I needed you and you left me with <em>nothing</em>!”</p><p>Both Rex and Rudger frowned curiously, and then Rex asked, “Do I know you?”</p><p>The young man scoffed and spat onto the floor. “That’s a <em>king</em> for you. Why would you bother to remember me when it’s so much easier to just throw me out and not trouble yourself?”</p><p>“I would remember throwing you out if I had,” Rex replied said sternly. “Who are you?”</p><p>“My name is Divine! I’m from a noble family! I’ve been here with my parents many times, <em>long</em> before I got tossed in that dungeon. But my parents are <em>dead</em> now.” He made that announcement with an accusatory snarl. “They were killed while we were all riding home together. I managed to make it home by myself, and I thought maybe I’d be able to keep living my life. I could just take my father’s place and become the new lord. But then <em>my own uncle</em> tried to kill me too! And it turned out <em>he</em> had hired those men to attack our carriage. Then when he saw I was still alive, he was going to make it look like I’d committed suicide and then claim the inheritance!”</p><p>Divine made another noise of contempt in his throat.</p><p>“We got into a fight before he got the chance, and I managed to push him out a window. He died when he hit the ground.” Divine made a cruel, crooked smile. “Serves him right. But at the time I was scared no one would believe me, and that the whole rest of my family would work to frame me, so I ran away. I didn’t have any other home to go to, so I came <em>here</em>.” He sneered toward Rex. “I thought, <em>surely</em> our good king who treated my parents like friends would offer me aid in my time of need.”</p><p>Rex looked at him with a grim expression. It made Divine’s ferocity grow.</p><p>“But when I got here, none of the guards would listen to me! They laughed at me, rejected me, hit me! Seeing my parents murdered in front of me was . . . unbearable. But, I will <em>never</em> forget how <em>humiliated</em> I was, and how <em>betrayed</em> I felt. When I looked up over the wall and saw that you were there, watching from a window and doing <em>nothing</em>—” Divine exhaled a breath so hot it should have steamed. “—I knew I hated you more than anything and anyone in the world. My uncle was just petty and greedy. But <em>you</em>. You’re supposed to be so <em>noble</em> and <em>just</em>. What a <em>joke</em>!”</p><p>Now that he was speaking so freely, Rex and Rudger felt truth in his voice. But they looked to Stardust to get his confirmation on the story.</p><p>“He’s telling the truth,” Stardust said solemnly.</p><p>“I see,” Rex said softly.</p><p>“It’s a shame you had to go through that,” Stardust said sympathetically. “If you had had the chance, you could have learned to put your magic to good use.”</p><p>“Magic?” Ushio burst out nervously. “Wait, are you saying he’s a <em>witch</em>?”</p><p>Divine sniffed at Ushio with a mocking expression.</p><p>“Yes,” Stardust said. “Not a <em>particularly</em> strong one, but one nonetheless.”</p><p>Ushio’s lips went tight as he tried to hide how nervous he suddenly was. Rex, in contrast, walked with a smooth gait and calm expression to stand closer to Divine. “I was wrong,” he said softly. “I <em>do</em> know you. And I remember your parents. I am deeply sorry to know what happened to them. If I hadn’t had my mind corrupted and my heart hardened, I would have learned of it much sooner, and I would have sought you out to help you. Divine, I am truly, <em>truly</em> sorry that I failed you.”</p><p>Divine’s entire being shook. He looked up at the king, bewildered. This was not the same man he had almost killed.</p><p>At that time, he had managed to get the blade mere inches from Rex’s back, but Rex had moved with inhuman reflexes and grabbed his wrist to halt its motion. Divine had found himself eye-to-eye with the king, and in those steely eyes he had encountered a terrifying darkness that summoned shivers down his spine like demons. Where had that terror gone? Was it hiding somewhere where Divine couldn’t see it anymore?</p><p>But even if it was masquerading behind that remorseful, compassionate face, why wasn’t the dragon revealing it to be a lie? Was this all some great trick being pulled against him? It <em>had</em> to be <em>some</em> kind of trick. How else could he explain such a dramatic change? The evil was lurking somewhere, and Divine wouldn’t be deceived again.</p><p>“What good is that <em>now</em>?” he muttered, looking away from those gray eyes. He didn’t want an apology. He wanted his parents back. His <em>life</em> back.</p><p>Or revenge.</p><p>Rex looked down at the bound man with a heavy heart. It was true. However sorry he was, it wasn’t worth much of anything. He sighed a long, quiet sigh.</p><p>“Rex, what now?” Rudger asked. “What do we do?”</p><p>By law, anyone who attempted to kill the king was sentenced to death. But Rex’s conscience would not abide that. He could empathize too much with Divine to blame him for his hatred. He looked down to Divine. “You still hate me, don’t you?”</p><p>Divine snapped his eyes back to Rex, and though his face didn’t burn as hot as it had before, he still couldn’t look at Rex without his brow crushing down with a smoldering fury. “Yes,” he muttered.</p><p>Rex nodded knowingly and clasped his hands behind his back. He couldn’t blame him for that. But he also believed that that hatred would lead him to more attempts on his life, possibly more successful ones. He couldn’t execute Divine, but he also couldn’t take the risk of freeing him. He turned to his brother. “Exile, I believe.”</p><p>“Exile?” Ushio’s jaw dropped. “But, he tried to <em>kill</em> you!”</p><p>Rex ignored him. “From both Domino and Arachnos. And we will focus on finding the ones who sent him.”</p><p>“Hm.” Rudger held his brother’s steady gaze for a moment and read his resolve there, and then nodded. “All right. I accept your judgment.”</p><p>Yusei watched the whole scene play out, captivated. It was so clear to him how similar his and Divine’s tragedies were, and yet the lives they had led since were so different. Yusei wondered what he would have done, how he would have felt if he had found out that it had been the <em>king</em> who had ordered his village burned. Would he be looking at Rex with the same loathing that Divine did now? Would his aura still be as clear as Stardust said it was? How much of who a person was depended on such fragile details beyond their control?</p><p>Upon hearing his sentence, Divine’s eyes wandered to the boy standing close to the window where the dragon lurked. He still had no idea who he was or why he was there. Seeing as how he was free, standing in the heart of the castle despite his dirty clothes, and familiar with the dragon, Divine instantly assumed he was some child blessed by fortune to rise above his circumstances far beyond what any peasant dreamed. That was just how his luck seemed to be: of course he would fall from the grace and fortune he was born with, fail in his goals, and face the mockery of fate as it put in front of him a boy whose life was the shining opposite of his own. What else could it possibly be? Divine’s lip curled just thinking it, and his heart churned with instant hatred.</p><p>“You know what I just realized?” Stardust said thoughtfully.</p><p>Rex responded. “What is that?”</p><p>“I kind of just left those two armies on the battlefield with no commander and no orders. I have <em>no</em> idea what they’re up to right now.”</p><p>“Hm. Well, maybe you could be so kind as to pay them a visit and let them know to come home.”</p><p>“Yeah, sure, I can do that.”</p><p>“You have my thanks.”</p><p>“And you have mine for taking care of Yusei.”</p><p>“Of course. I’ll have Ushio comb the city for Martha.”</p><p>While Ushio’s chest was suddenly puffed up at hearing his name spoken by his king, Divine wrinkled his nose with private contempt. So, the kid <em>was</em> blessed, receiving aid from the king no less. How could fate mock him so cruelly?</p><p>“And when you have a chance to return,” Rex added, “I will have the book ready to give to you.”</p><p>“Can I ask what kind of book you’ve been talking about?” Yusei asked.</p><p>“I’ll tell you more about it sometime,” Stardust promised. “But to put it simply, it’s a source of ancient, pure magic. It’s the only one because it’s not so much what’s <em>written inside</em> it that contains the magic, it’s the thing itself.”</p><p>“We call if The Book of Dragons,” Rex said.</p><p>“Very creative,” Stardust said to Yusei alone. “We don’t call it that. It’s just our book.”</p><p>“Ah,” Yusei said, as if he was responding to Rex. Then to Stardust he said, “I’d <em>definitely</em> like to hear more about it!”</p><p>“Sure. I better head off though. I want to make sure those soldiers aren’t making a mess.”</p><p>“Right. Well it seems like there are some final matters to take care of,” Rex said to the room, then clasped a hand on Rudger’s shoulder. “Shall we greet our people and share the news?”</p><p>Rudger smiled and nodded. “I’m looking forward to it.”</p><p>While the brothers attended to their political matters, Yusei turned to Stardust and placed a hand on his metallic cheek. “I’ll miss you,” he said softly.</p><p>And for once, Stardust didn’t play. “Yeah,” he said in Yusei’s head. “I’ll miss you too. But remember kid, this isn’t goodbye.”</p><p>Yusei sniffled back the sting in his nose and nodded. He had been feeling a tremble in his chest and in his lips since hearing the mention of Martha again. “Right.” Again, he squeezed the fang he had been gifted. He wondered if maybe he could use it to just . . . <em>talk</em> to Stardust, not necessarily <em>call</em> for him. It would be nice to be able to at least hear his voice sometimes . . . “And I’ll work hard so we can be a team again.”</p><p>“I believe in you.”</p><p>Yusei smiled, and then Stardust shifted. He had been gripping to the castle stones for some time, and he was ready to get back in the air. He flexed his wings and gave them a few testing flaps.</p><p>“Well,” he said, not really knowing how to close their scene. “Until next time.”</p><p>“Yeah.” Yusei nodded. “Until next time.”</p><p>Thinking that was good enough, Stardust pushed himself off the castle and flapped his wings hard to get him out into the open air. Yusei leaned out the open window, feeling the dragon’s wind rustle his hair and chill his face, and kept watching his friend as he got higher and smaller. He so wanted to be back on the dragon’s shoulders and feel the air racing against his body as they soared together, but he held on to that promise. <em>Until next time</em>. For now, he watched the dragon’s wings leave a trail of glitter in the air behind him, lighting up the blue sky with stars, determined to make his future shine that beautifully too.</p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. false identity</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong> <em>“Sometimes the people closest to you betray you, and your home isn’t a place you can be happy anymore.” – Kristin Cast</em> </strong>
</p><p>Stardust flew over the woods in grim silence. Yusei too carried a heavy silence with him on Stardust’s back, his jaw set tight and his lips pressed thin. Compared to his misery, Aki was light in his arms. She was sitting sideways to accommodate her dress, and she had fallen asleep leaning into his torso during the flight, lulled to sleep by the wind and her own exhaustion—and the security of his arms as he held her upright within them. He rested his chin on her head as well to keep it from drooping, and with eyes fixed ahead, he stared at the city walls that were growing closer.</p><p>He could see the city, but his mind was too absorbed to think on it. Those walls were large enough to hold an entire royal city, but not nearly large enough to hold the anger that kept him hot against the wind’s chill. Nor his own regret for leaving her, for not coming back fast enough. Nor his contempt for the cruelty given to her in exchange for her trust. Nor his frustration at being unable to return what was stolen. He felt like a thousand tight and wretched knots being pulled tighter and tighter, and with no way to get release.</p><p>His vision kept flashing red and dark when his mind turned to the one who had done this. This <em>mentor</em> that had deceived and manipulated Aki into speaking of him with such respect and gratitude. As far as Yusei was concerned, that man was deceiving everyone with the appearance of a human when in truth, he was something else.</p><p>He was a monster.</p><p>Yusei ground his teeth. The noble knight in his heart was transforming into the ferocious monster slayer that came out in times like these. Some people needed to be saved from others. Some needed to be saved from circumstances. Some needed to be saved from themselves. Monsters were those who couldn’t be saved, who had been completely taken over by the vile corruptions in their hearts and were beyond redemption.</p><p>Unforgivable.</p><p>By the time Stardust was gliding over the walls, the sky had become a dusky lilac. Some people had noticed the dragon approaching and were peeking out from windows or stepping onto their balconies to watch him fly overhead. Though by now they were familiar with him from his visits, a dragon was still a dragon, and everyone was interested in that rarity. Especially one as beautiful as Stardust, he thought, his vanity flattered by the attention—though not so much today.</p><p>The city itself, however, was not their destination. He flew right over it, aiming toward a small town sparsely populated in the open fields nearby. He passed over a few lone houses before he landed in a garden wide enough to accommodate his open wings, one next to a very large and humble wooden house. From all three stories, small faces were pressed against window glass, mouths and eyes wide with smiles upon seeing his arrival. Stardust didn’t put on a show of flare as he normally would in front of the awestruck children. Instead he focused on landing gently for the sake of his passengers.</p><p>While looking toward the house, Yusei felt Aki shift and heard her soft voice, though she didn’t open her eyes. He thought she might be on the brink of waking, so he tested her.</p><p>“Aki,” he murmured by her ear. “We’re here.”</p><p>Aki heard him and dragged her mind out of sleep enough to open her eyes. She didn’t feel the wind anymore, but Yusei’s arms were still firm around her body. The air smelled different here, and ahead of her was a house she didn’t know. She turned her head just a little. Yusei had one arm around her shoulders and the other hand held her legs in place.</p><p>“Are you ready to get down?”</p><p>Aki didn’t feel ready for anything except to lie down for a hundred years, staring into space. But she answered him with a nod.</p><p>“Ok. I’ve got you.”</p><p>He pulled his hand from her legs and instead slipped it under her knees so he could pick her up across both arms. She instinctively reached up with her own to wrap them around his neck and bury her face against his shoulder. Yusei easily maneuvered himself on Stardust’s shoulders and slid off. He landed on his feet with knees bent, then stood up straight and carried Aki across the open meadow all the way to the front door.</p><p>By then, some of the children had made their way outside and were running up excitedly to Stardust. Aki peeked up from Yusei’s shoulder and regretted it. Seeing Stardust now only hurt. He should be so much brighter than he looked. The world itself should be lit up and sparkling with the flow of magic—even in the dark of night. Those lights were gone, and they had taken the light in her heart as well. She put her eyes back on Yusei’s shoulder.</p><p>“You’ll be safe here,” Yusei said quietly. “I promise.”</p><p>She just nodded without lifting her eyes. Yusei left it at that.</p><p>The door was left open by the children, so Yusei was able to cross the threshold without assistance. And there to meet him, approaching through the entrance hallway, was a middle-aged woman, her skin brown and her black hair set in thick dreadlocks that framed her motherly face. She wore a modest dress that gave her the air of a nun and covered the whole of her stout body. She looked at the new arrivals with concern in her gray eyes.</p><p>“I’d like to say it’s nice to see you, Yusei,” she said before he eyes drifted to Aki and her battered appearance. “But that can wait.”</p><p>Yusei nodded. “I’m sorry to just burst in on you.”</p><p>She waved at him dismissively. “You can come and go as you please in your own home.”</p><p>Yusei managed to smile, but it was small and weak. “Thanks Martha. I need your help.”</p><p>“That’s what I’m here for. Come on.” She waved him in further, and more little children peek at him from around corners, looking curiously at the unfamiliar person he was carrying and giving each other questioning glances. Yusei kept his eyes straight ahead as he followed Martha to an empty room where he could lay Aki down on a bed. She let go of Yusei’s neck reluctantly, but once she was on the bed she went limp and just stared up to the ceiling. She didn’t move and didn’t notice when Yusei pulled a blanket up to her shoulders, nor when Martha shooed away a group of children who had gathered at the door to peek inside from around the frame.</p><p>To Yusei she felt light, but to herself, Aki’s body felt heavy with exhaustion. In contrast, her mind was speeding through a stormcloud of thoughts as fast as lightning. She felt like such a fool. How could she have gone so long never feeling anything off about Sayer? Surely there had been signs. Had she missed them out of naïveté? Had she ignored them, explained them away to fit her own image of him? She wanted to replay her whole life with him and pinpoint everything she should have noticed.</p><p>But what good would that do now? It wouldn’t turn back time. It wouldn’t heal her wounded trust. It wouldn’t get her magic back. Could <em>anything</em>? Could <em>she</em>? On her own? Or was this . . . would this last forever? Could she live like that? Could she accept a life like this? Who should she blame? Sayer? Or herself? Sayer because he did it, he tricked her, ravaged her. Herself because she had been tricked, and too weak to protect herself.</p><p>Pathetic. She felt so pathetic. To be used, abandoned, rendered weaker and more helpless than she already was. How could she have been so stupid and weak as to let this happen? How could she stand living knowing she was this pathetic?</p><p>But what had her life been anyway? Had she been planning to live forever alone in a forest with Sayer? Was that all? Just a peaceful existence to herself? Maybe some power in the universe had decided that wasn’t good enough. Maybe Sayer had been allowed to take her magic because he had something better to do with it than she had been on the path to. She felt so small and small-minded. If she had been more ambitious, more adventurous, maybe she could have become stronger, found a purpose that would have led her away from Sayer before he could have ruined her. It was her fault.</p><p>It was <em>Sayer’s</em> fault. He was the one who chose to do it. But it was her fault too. She should have been better. She should have been so much better. And now it was too late.</p><p>As she stared up at the ceiling, tears slipped silently from the corner of her eyes and down her temples. She didn’t blink, so they fell smoothly, uninterrupted. She didn’t notice when Martha and Yusei left and closed the door.</p><p>The living room was more open space than furniture, and what it was furnished with was well-used, but also well-maintained. Martha didn’t have much money—or much funding—so she found practical and creative ways to make things last and to make sure the children she took in were comfortable. Yusei knew how hard she worked—and how much she cared. She had been a mother to children before he had met her and continued to mother new children after he had left.</p><p>Martha sat down in her usual padded chair while Yusei sat on the edge of a couch with his elbows on his knees.</p><p>“Thank you,” he said with a heavy, tired voice. It meant a lot that he could rely on Martha even now when he was living on his own.</p><p>“It’s nothing. I’m glad you know you can come here when you need to.”</p><p>While staring at the floor, he nodded.</p><p>Martha knew his solemn silence meant he had a lot on his mind. He had been that way even as a child. She folded her hands in her lap. “So who is she?” she asked patiently.</p><p>“Aki.”</p><p>“And who is Aki to you?”</p><p>Yusei’s hands were hanging from his wrists, but then he grabbed one with the other and squeezed. “A friend.” He clenched his jaw and swallowed. “She saved my life.”</p><p>“Oh really?”</p><p>He nodded to the floor again.</p><p>“How did she do that?”</p><p>He squeezed his hand tighter.</p><p>“She healed me. I was going to die, but she healed my wounds until they were nothing. It was amazing magic.”</p><p>“Magic?” Matha repeated, leaning forward suddenly. She whispered, “She’s a witch?”</p><p>Yusei clenched his teeth hard and furrowed his brow. He breathed deeply through his nose. “She <em>was</em>,” he answered tightly. “Her magic is gone. Her mentor stole it.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“He almost <em>killed</em> her.”</p><p>Martha observed Yusei closely, his tense muscles, his angry downward frown, his tight grip on his own hand. “Did you stop him?”</p><p>Yusei closed his eyes and shook his head. “No. I wasn’t there. And I found her when it was too late. He was already gone. I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t do anything.”</p><p>She could hear the frustration in his voice. “But you brought her here. And she’s alive, so you can still help her.”</p><p>Yusei sighed. “I don’t know if I can get her magic back. But. I swear I’m going to find that man. Maybe I can force him to give it back. Or at least, I can . . .” The knight inside wanted to say “bring him to justice,” but the monster slayer wanted to say “give her a bit of revenge.”</p><p>“I know you’ll do what you can,” Matha said.</p><p>Yusei nodded.</p><p>“And I’ll do what I can,” she added. “That’s why you brought her here, right?”</p><p>“Yeah. She doesn’t have anything or anyone else.”</p><p>“Hmm,” she sighed compassionately. “Poor girl.”</p><p>Yusei frowned hard. “She doesn’t deserve this. She’s a good person. I should have been able to stop it.”</p><p>Martha sighed again and stood up so she could cross over to the couch and sit next to him. She put a hand on his arm. “Don’t blame yourself. I know it’s hard, and I know you’re hurting, but it’s not your fault. You’re only responsible for your own choices. It’s only the fault of the one who hurt her.”</p><p>“I <em>wish</em> I could have stopped it.”</p><p>“I know.” Martha put her arm around his shoulders for a side embrace. “It always hurts to see someone you care about suffer. But I know you’ll find something you can do for her<em> now</em>.”</p><p>“I just don’t know if it’ll be enough.”</p><p>Martha was quiet and just let Yusei be her little boy again. There was no fixing his mood right now. It was too raw.</p><p>“No, there’s no way to know that,” she agreed. “But give it your all anyway.” She moved her hand from his shoulder to his cheek and pulled him in so she could plant a kiss on his forehead. “I’ll go get a bed ready for you.” She stood up and pat his head before walking past. Yusei finally lifted his eyes from the floor to watch her back. When she disappeared around a corner he looked at his hands, and then he lifted them to rub his eyes and then form a thoughtful temple against his face.</p>
<hr/><p>Aki rolled onto her side and pulled the blanket tight around her shoulders. She breathed in deeply and thought the air didn’t smell right. Her eyes opened a little, not yet ready to open all the way. It was enough to see a color she didn’t recognize. This wasn’t her bed. And the lighting in the room was different. She lifted her head enough to take a look around until her confusion was replaced by the memory of arriving in this new house. She worked to sit up and rubbed her eyes until they were clear of sleep. She pushed the blanket off and slid her legs off the bed and lazily pushed herself onto her feet. When she was about to stretch her arms, she looked up—and then jumped backward, landing on the bed. There was someone else there in the room.</p><p>She realized quickly enough that it was Yusei. He was sitting at a table, his arms folded on the surface and his forehead resting on top. She could see his shoulders rising and falling slowly, and seeing that he had no reaction to her surprise, she assumed he was asleep.</p><p>She crept over to him, tiptoeing lightly so she made no noise. He still didn’t show signs of noticing her, and she didn’t want to disturb his rest. She tiptoed across the room to the door and <em>very</em> slowly, <em>very</em> carefully opened it. Through the window she made, she could see some children playing on the floor in the living room with pebbles of some kind. She didn’t recognize the game, but they were very excited about it. The oldest one shushed the group every time they raised their voices.</p><p>Aki instinctively found herself nervous at the sight of so many people. Her shoulders tensed and she watched them closely as if she needed to calculate an escape just in case. But then she remembered she was like them now. They didn’t need to be afraid of her for being a witch, so she didn’t need to be afraid of their fear. Though that didn’t improve her mood. Her shoulders sank with her heart.</p><p>Then one girl in the living room happened to glance toward Aki’s door and saw her standing there in the opening. The girl quickly pointed and shouted, “Look!” Aki jumped, startled by the sudden attention, and as all eyes turned to her, her stomach knotted and she had the urge to slam the door shut. One little boy jumped up from the floor and ran from the room shouting, “Martha! Martha!” The little girl also got up from the floor, leaving the pebbles as they were, and bounded over to stand on the other side of Aki’s door, looking up at her through the opening.</p><p>Aki wasn’t familiar with children, so she stayed quiet and stared back. She guessed the little girl was about five. Beyond that, the most she could say was that the girl was pretty.</p><p>“Hi!” she greeted brightly. “What’s your name?”</p><p>Aki met the girl’s smile with a nervous one of her own. “Um . . . Aki. And you?”</p><p>Before she could hear the little girl’s answer, Aki felt a weight appear on her shoulder and jumped with a loud gasp.</p><p>“Sorry!” Yusei said quickly, stepping backward and raising his hands innocently. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”</p><p>Aki forced out a weak laugh. “It’s ok. I’m surprised I didn’t hear you.”</p><p>“Guess we’re both used to being quiet.”</p><p>“Yeah . . .”</p><p>The little girl watched curiously through the door as Yusei and Aki avoided meeting each other’s eyes. Eventually Yusei asked, sounding apologetic, “How are you?”</p><p>Aki pressed her arms across her torso and folded her shoulders forward. “Well . . .”</p><p>Yusei shook his head. “Sorry,” he murmured. “Bad question.”</p><p>“No, it’s fine. I . . . I appreciate you.”</p><p>Yusei looked utterly miserable at being shown gratitude. Aki didn’t know what to say to make him feel better. She didn’t know what to say or do to make herself feel better either. Not really. But she did have a few needs that could be attended to.</p><p>“I am hungry,” she offered as she pushed her arms into her aching stomach. “And I could use a bath.”</p><p>Yusei nodded. “I’ll show you the kitchen.” He opened the door to find several children had gathered there along with the first little girl, and they all jumped back to give him and Aki space to walk out. Aki followed him through the living room and into another that had a large table that could seat more than fifteen. Martha was in the kitchen next to it, stirring a large pot over a fire.</p><p>“Well hello there,” she greeted noticing their arrival. Martha hung the ladle and met Aki by grabbing one of her hands with both of hers. “I’m Martha. Yusei told me a little about you. I’m so sorry for your loss. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need.”</p><p>Aki didn’t know what exactly Martha knew about her or what Yusei had said about her “loss”, and she didn’t feel like getting into any details. So she just said, “Thank you.”</p><p>“You must be hungry. You’ve slept the whole day,” Martha said, which was a surprise to Aki. “Here, sit down and I’ll bring you something.” Martha guided Aki to one of the chairs at the table and then returned to her pot. Yusei sat down at the table too, across from Aki, and after a moment Martha set a bowl of hot soup in front of Aki, and the fragrant steam rising from it made her mouth water. “Eat as much as you want,” Martha said encouragingly.</p><p>“Thank you,” Aki said again, and then blew on her first spoonful until it was cooled enough to put in her mouth.</p><p>“You too,” Martha said, putting a similar bowl in front of Yusei. “I haven’t seen you eat all day either.”</p><p>Yusei didn’t deny it. He took the spoon she offered and began to absently stir his soup.</p><p>“And all of <em>you</em>!” she said lastly, turning toward all the little faces peeking into the dining room from the hallway. “I know you’ve eaten. Let those two be so they can have their dinner.”</p><p>“We won’t bother them!” one little boy promised. “So is it ok, Yusei-nii-san? Can we come in?”</p><p>Aki watched Yusei give them all a smile and nod, and then watched the children all rush in and crowd around him. It was fascinating to see the intimidating knight so adored by small children. Aki gathered that none of them were related, since they didn’t look alike and certainly didn’t look like Martha. But they still seemed close and warm like a family. Aki focused on her soup and easing her aching stomach so that she didn’t feel awkwardly out of place among them.</p><p>Martha also offered her bread and fruit to accompany the soup, and she politely accepted. She wished she could have enjoyed the food more, but mostly it was just weight to fill her empty stomach with. After dinner, Martha prepared a bath for Aki and left her alone to soak in the water. Though had she had only just woken up, now that her stomach was full, Aki felt ready to go back to bed. But since she was there, she stayed in the comfort of the water for a time to clear her mind—or at least try to.</p><p>When it was obvious that feeling clean wasn’t going to make her feel refreshed, she dried off and put on the clean clothes Martha had given her, since her own dress was quite torn. She moved slowly, feeling no energy and no need to rush anyway. She made her way back to her room and went to the window to look out at the night. She also noticed there was a small pot on the window sill with a seedling sprouting out of the soil. She hesitated, then wrapped her hands around the pot and sought out the roots with her senses. She began to sweat from the focus, but the seedling only shivered. Aki let out a breath and bowed her head.</p><p>Then came a knock at the door and she looked over her shoulder.</p><p>“Aki?”</p><p>It was Yusei’s voice, so she went to meet him. “Hi,” she said softly when their eyes met through the opening.</p><p>“Hi,” he said back. “Can I . . . Can I come in?”</p><p>“Oh, yes.” She stepped back and opened the door further to grant him entry. He stepped in and then closed the door quietly behind him. For a moment they both just stood in the center of the room, glancing around in every direction as they waited for something to happen. Finally it was Aki who asked, “Do you want to sit?”</p><p>“Um, sure.”</p><p>Aki sat down first on the bed, and Yusei followed, sitting down with enough space between them to fit another person. Aki waited again, thinking now it was Yusei’s turn to contribute something. He was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and holding his hands together. “I’m sorry,” he said after a long silence. “I can’t think of the right thing to say.”</p><p>Aki pulled her legs up to hug them. “There might not be a right thing to say.”</p><p>He sighed. “Yeah. I just . . . I guess I just want you to know . . . I hate that this happened to you. And I want to make it right. If there’s anything I can do, I swear I’ll do it. I won’t leave you alone, I promise.”</p><p>He was finally looking at her firmly, and she looked back. His promise wasn’t as confident as before. This time when he said it, he sounded uncertain and apologetic. Aki felt numb inside, but she was able to give him a sad smile. “Yusei, listen,” she said quietly. “I know you feel guilty because of what happened, but I mean it when I say I don’t want you to. I don’t blame you for anything, so please don’t put that burden on yourself.”</p><p>Yusei opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, and instead he sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like you needed to cheer me up. This isn’t about how I’m feeling. <em>You’re</em> the one . . .” He drifted off. He didn’t want to say aloud unnecessary things. They both knew what he meant.</p><p>“You don’t need to try to cheer me up either,” she said, her voice hushed but heavy. Yusei looked at her, and she could feel the weight of his guilt in his gaze. Well, if they were both going to be relentlessly miserable, she might as well say what was on her mind. “To be honest, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to live without magic. I don’t know how to be around people. I don’t know what to do with myself. If I try to imagine a future where I’m like this forever, I see nothing. And I feel so many things. I’m scared, and angry, and frustrated, and sad, and I feel like a complete idiot. But at the same time I somehow feel empty, like all the life has been sucked out of me and I’m just . . . <em>empty</em>. Nothing.” Her eyes drifted to the seedling on the windowsill, draped in moonlight.</p><p>Yusei followed her gaze to the plant and could guess what she felt to see it. “Is there any way to get your magic back?”</p><p>“Well, Sayer could <em>give</em> it back,” she answered dully.</p><p>                —Ah, Sayer. So <em>that</em> was his name.—</p><p>“That would be the best way. It’s also possible balance could be restored naturally and I could gain magic over time by absorbing it from the earth. But there’s no guarantee of that, and that process could be so slow that I wouldn’t live long enough to get back nearly as much magic as I had before.” She grimaced. “And then there’s the option of what Sayer did: find a large source of magic and steal it. But even if that wasn’t despicable, it’s dangerous. There could be an incompatibility that tears your body apart, or it could just be too much magic and overwhelm your body. Sayer was able to do it because he had a crystal that helped him bear it.”</p><p>Yusei hadn’t known that. He knew some principles of magic, but he hadn’t been in a position to learn too many specifics and details.</p><p>“Is there anything <em>Stardust</em> could do? Could he, maybe, give you some of his magic?”</p><p>Aki shook her head. “I doubt it. Our magic doesn’t seem very similar, so I doubt I would be compatible with him in that way. And anyway, I don’t want to take his magic. It would weaken him. With all the dangers right now, he needs to be as strong as possible.”</p><p>Yusei stared out the window as he sat still in thought. And then very quietly, he asked, “What would happen if he <em>died</em>?” Aki looked at him, but Yusei kept his gaze ahead. “Would your magic come back to you then?”</p><p>Aki stared at him, and in that pause he turned to meet her eyes. “I don’t know,” she answered just as quietly. “Maybe. Or it could go out with his. I don’t think there are records of this kind of thing happening.”</p><p>Yusei sighed. “I wish I hadn’t left you alone.”</p><p>“This would have happened eventually,” she said with a dull tone. “It seems he had been planning to do it from the beginning. He was just waiting for the right moment. And apparently the right moment was when he found out I had brought you and Stardust home.”</p><p>Yusei wondered why, but instead he asked, “What can you tell me about him? I want to find him. I want to try to get your magic back from him.”</p><p>It hurt Yusei to see in her eyes that though she appreciated his sentiment, she didn’t seem confident that he could do it. To be honest, he wasn’t confident either, but he wanted his resolve to mean something. He wanted her to believe he could rather than humor him with a wan smile.</p><p>“Well, he told me he had been exiled from Domino, so that was why he had to stay hidden.”</p><p>“Exiled? Why?”</p><p>“His story was that he had reported corruption in the palace and the king didn’t like it. He had been a noble before, but after that happened, he hated the king, and now he hates anything and everything associated with him—nobles, knights, the castle, everything. I don’t know how true the rest of what he told me is, but I can tell that his hatred is real.”</p><p>“Hm.” Yusei couldn’t recall hearing about anyone exiled for reporting corruption. Unless it had happened more than ten years ago, before he had met Rex and become a citizen involved in the workings of Domino. “And what does he look like?”</p><p>Aki was still hugging her bent legs when she started rocking back and forth slightly. “I’d say he’s tall. The top of my head only reaches his shoulder. I think he’s around thirty. He has green eyes, and his hair is a kind of dirty red color. It’s about shoulder-length, and some of it covers his right eye.”</p><p>Yusei could feel his mind working as she spoke, like a librarian speeding through thousands of records and catalogues in search of something that was teasingly just beyond recall. But then he hit upon it, and the sought memory flashed in his mind, freshly dusted though a little warped with time.</p><p>A young man—a prisoner. His face hot with fury. Teeth bared and gnashing. Shouting. At the king. The details were hazy, but Yusei thought the descriptions could match. The age seemed about right, and the more he thought about it, he did remember that he had been exiled rather than executed—which would have been a fitting sentence for someone who had attempted to kill the king, who he apparently hated. And he had been a witch too. So many things seemed to fit. He just couldn’t remember what the prisoner’s name had been.</p><p>“Do you know anything else about him?”</p><p>Aki let out a long, slow breath through her nose as she looked down to her bare feet. “I don’t think I could tell you much about his past. I didn’t really ask him about it. I just focused on our own life and learning the things he taught me about magic.” That made her wince. She didn’t like being reminded of how stupidly she had been living. “I guess that’s why it was so easy for him to fool me.”</p><p>Yusei wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know if there were any words that could help. After a heavy pause he said, “You’re not a fool for trusting him. He took care of you when you didn’t have anyone else. It’s only natural that you would get attached to him. And I’m sure he put a lot of effort into making sure you never suspected him.”</p><p>Aki pressed her mouth against her knees and hugged her legs tighter. She didn’t want to reject his attempts at consolation, but the truth was it didn’t help. She didn’t respond and just stared past her feet to the floor.</p><p>Yusei responded to her silence with more silence and left it at that. For a while they just sat there in the quiet, dark room, each one staring down and feeling lost. The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable, it was just sad. Yusei lifted his eyes up to the window to look out to the sky. The moon was too high for him to see, but he could at least see the light it cast down from beyond the window frame.</p><p>When he was thinking maybe he should just leave her for now, she spoke, nailing him in place. “You know,” she murmured, “it just feels ironic. I spent most of my life being afraid of normal humans, and then it was another witch who actually hurt me. I guess I forgot that people can hurt their own kind, no matter what they are.”</p><p>Yusei nodded. “Yeah,” he sighed. “I imagine he’ll end up hurting a lot of people from here on.”</p><p>Aki turned her head to look at him. “And you want to stop him, don’t you, oh noble knight.”</p><p>Yusei looked at her as well and nodded resolutely. “I do. And if I know more about him, I’ll have a better idea of what I’m looking for.”</p><p>Aki shook her head. “You know he’s dangerous. He could kill you. Easily.”</p><p>“I can’t let that stop me.”</p><p>She sighed. “You’re not scared of anything, are you?”</p><p>“It’s not that I’m not <em>scared</em>. I’m just willing to do what I have to do anyway.”</p><p>“Why are <em>you</em> the one who has to stop him?”</p><p>“Because I think I can. I have Stardust, and other resources. And I’m ready. And because he hurt you. Just for that, I can’t leave him alone.”</p><p>Aki looked at him, her heart aching and lip trembling. Then she shook her head. “What if he hurts <em>you</em>? What if something happens because you got involved in my problem?”</p><p>“It’s not just your problem,” Yusei insisted. “He must have taken your magic for a reason, right? You said he was probably planning to do it for a long time now, which would mean he has something in mind to do with that extra power. I have to protect the people who could be his next victims.”</p><p>Aki looked down and then pressed her forehead against her knees to hide her face. She knew how strongly he felt about that, but she was so used to not caring about humans that it hadn’t occurred to her to do so now. But she could remember how <em>good</em> it had felt to heal Yusei, and how excited she had been at the thought of being able to do more magic like that. There had been a spark in her that had wanted to help others. But even if she had still felt that spark now, she didn’t have that power anymore. She didn’t even have the choice to put her skill to use or not.</p><p>She didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to think about other people and her relationship with them, or what it <em>could</em> have been.</p><p>“Do you know,” Yusei started, leaning slightly toward Aki, “or, do you have any idea what he might be up to? Or where he might have gone?”</p><p>She shook her head while keeping her forehead on her knees.</p><p>Yusei’s heart sank and his shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to bother you, not when you’re . . .” He was going to say “dealing with so much,” but that didn’t seem to quite cover it.</p><p>Aki shook her head again. “You’re not bothering me. It’s everything <em>else</em> that is.”</p><p>Yusei kept looking at her from the side, at her buried face and folded body. She looked like she wanted to disappear. He wanted to reach out, but he stopped himself. With a soft and doubtful voice, he asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” she answered in a whisper. “I’m sorry. I feel like I don’t know <em>anything</em>.”</p><p>“No, it’s all right. I understand.”</p><p>“I want to help you.” Her voice cracked as she said it. It was true. He was the only one she truly wanted to help. “But I can’t do anything. Not anymore.”</p><p>“That’s not true.” He finally reached out then, laying a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve lived with him for years. You <em>know</em> things, even if you don’t think you do. Maybe nothing about him stood out obviously, but you know his habits and patterns. You know the things about him that are familiar to you. That’s something. I can start something with that.”</p><p>Aki turned her head just enough to see him from the corner of her eye. Then she lifted her head and put her chin on top of her knee to think. “Well,” she said slowly after a minute, “he worked in trade. That was how he made money. He’d buy something and then find someone else who would buy it for even more. He’d read all the time and when he had a book memorized, he’d sell that too. He bought and studied all sorts of magical items and practiced new spells all the time. He was <em>devoted</em> to all the work he did. He even taught me a lot. Not everything. Some things he learned he kept to himself, but I just assumed that was because those things were too advanced for me. Now I’m not so sure.”</p><p>“And you don’t know if he was studying magic for any specific goal?”</p><p>“Well, he never told me if he had a goal. If I had to guess, I would say it might have something to do with getting back at the king for exiling him. But that’s just a guess, and I don’t know how he would want to go about doing it.”</p><p>“And what about the timing? Do you have any idea why he chose now to do this?”</p><p>Aki caught a wrinkle of her dress between her fingers and rubbed it back and forth. “Not really. We were sitting in the living room talking. He asked about what I’d been doing while he was gone, and eventually I told him everything about finding you and healing you and bringing you and Stardust home. That was when he started acting strange, when I told him about Stardust. He’s always been fascinated by dragons, but that’s nothing unusual. I don’t know why telling him about a knight and a dragon that had already come and gone would mean anything to him.”</p><p>Yusei didn’t know either. His mind was spinning trying to put pieces together, but again, there was too much missing to make the connections.</p><p>“Did he teach you about dragons?” he asked, thinking that maybe learning what kind of information he valued about dragons could be a clue.</p><p>“A little. Not in depth. It seemed like he focused more on teaching me practical things I could do that would help me in daily life, or in emergencies. I don’t think he expected knowing a lot about dragons would be useful to me. But he definitely studied them a lot for <em>himself</em>. Especially this <em>one</em> book. After he got it, he became obsessed with it. He was reading it every chance he got.”</p><p>“What kind of book was it?”</p><p>“I’m not sure, he never had me look at it. I just know it was about dragons.”</p><p>A book about dragons . . .</p><p>“Oh and apparently it’s written in a way that only witches can read. Humans with no magic wouldn’t be able to. So that’s pretty unusual.”</p><p>Yusei’s head throbbed as his pulse got heavy and fast. “Where is that book?” he asked, restraining the sudden urgency in his voice as best he could.</p><p>Aki looked at him curiously, wondering why he would want to know. “Well, he kept it in his study. So it might still be there—in all the rubble. Though, I’d guess he probably took it with him when he left. I can’t imagine him just leaving it behind.”</p><p>His throbbing head made the room sway. <em>Oh, shit</em>.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Aki asked, noticing his sickly expression.</p><p>Yusei had been staring into space as his mind began to run through all sorts of scenarios, none of them good. He forced his eyes to focus out of it and onto Aki. “I think this might be worse than I thought.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“If that book is what I think it is . . .”</p><p>“What do you think it is?” she pressed.</p><p>Yusei looked at her while taking a deep breath. “Listen,” he said seriously, “this isn’t common knowledge, so don’t talk about it with anyone else, ok?”</p><p>She nodded and leaned toward him intently. She didn’t bother to say she had no one else to tell. Even if she did, if he was sharing a secret with her, she would keep it for him.</p><p>“Ok. There’s a book that belongs to dragons. It’s important to them. <em>Really</em> important. It’s got all kinds of information about dragons and magic, secret knowledge that could cause a lot of problems in the wrong hands. It’s supposed to be kept in a safe place that only dragons can find, but it’s been taken from there before. If that’s the book Sayer has, then it must have been taken again.”</p><p>“What makes you think it’s that book?” Aki asked curiously. Nervously.</p><p>“Well, it’s a book that someone who wants to gain power and who is fascinated by dragons would be obsessed with. And I need to assume the worst so I don’t underprepare.”</p><p>“If this book is so dangerous, how are you supposed to fight him when he has it?”</p><p>“I’ll come up with something,” he said flatly. “But I need to act quickly. The best thing I can probably do is get to him before he makes any more big moves.”</p><p>Aki worried for him. Why did the one person she felt like she could trust have to be so recklessly brave?</p><p>“He must be powerful and resourceful already,” Yusei continued, thinking out loud, “if he managed to find the book and steal it without the dragons noticing.”</p><p>“He didn’t find it,” Aki corrected. “A woman gave it to him.”</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” Aki shook her head. “That was all he said when he brought it home. That a woman came to him directly and gave it to him. He didn’t know her either, but since he was so excited to have the book, he didn’t seem too bothered by it.”</p><p>Yusei’s brow furrowed. He didn’t know what to do with this strange new information. So he focused on things he thought Aki might be able to provide. “Can I ask you one more thing?”</p><p>“Yes, of course.”</p><p>“How exactly did you end up living with him, anyway?” He asked because if they assumed that Sayer had been planning to steal her magic from the beginning, there might be a clue to <em>something</em> in the story of how he found her.</p><p>But after hearing his question, Aki’s eyes dimmed and she went very still. She didn’t say anything for a moment and then she bit down on her bottom lip.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” he asked in a sensitive tone.</p><p>At that, Aki released her legs and stretched them out so she could rise to her feet and walk to the window, keeping her back to him. He stayed where he was to respect her desire for distance, and he watched her as she hugged herself, gripping her arms tightly.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” she said softly without turning. “I’ve been afraid of telling you since we met.”</p><p>Yusei stood up but didn’t approach. “You can tell me anything. I can handle it.”</p><p>Aki’s breath was choppy when she inhaled, like she was on the edge of crying. She exhaled it out slowly, fogging the window. And then still without turning, she started, “He found me after . . .” She swallowed. “After I killed my parents.” Her shoulders rose and tightened and he could see her nails dig into her arms. “I didn’t mean to, I just lost control. But that doesn’t matter. I still killed them. And no one was going to accept me after that, so I was relieved when Sayer said he would take me in.”</p><p>Yusei let a solemn silence hang in the air for a moment. It was a heavy thing to hear, and he wanted to reassure her. But there was a nagging in his mind. “How did he find you?”</p><p>Aki also paused, creating a thoughtful silence until she was ready to answer. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It was just happening, there was fire everywhere, the whole house was burning, but it’s the smell of their bodies that I remember the clearest. And I couldn’t stop it. I wasn’t even that young. I was thirteen, maybe fourteen, but even then I couldn’t control my magic well. But then Sayer showed up, and he was able to stop the fire. Then he took me with him before the whole town could hunt me down.”</p><p>Yusei felt for her, but he couldn’t stop thinking. “But, why was he there?”</p><p>Aki shook her head. “I don’t know. I never asked.” Aki winced as she felt her head begin to ache. She kept digging into the memory. “I think at some point I just assumed he had been there for a trade deal. That was the main reason he left the house.” She kept thinking, wondering if maybe he had said something after their meeting. What exactly had he said to her? She couldn’t quite recall, she just remembered feeling so relieved and reassured to have someone accept her.</p><p>But, had he been carrying anything? Some kind of item he might have bought along the way?</p><p>She felt a stabbing sensation in her temples and raised her fingers to massage it. She closed her eyes, but it didn’t help. Everything stayed so fuzzy. Well, it <em>had</em> been some years ago, five or six. It wasn’t surprising that the details would have rubbed away. But she didn’t understand why trying to remember caused such a striking headache.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Yusei asked when she bowed her head and groaned. He came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder.</p><p>“My head,” she said tightly. “It hurts all of a sudden.”</p><p>“Here, relax a little.” He took her gently by the arm and guided her back to the bed where she could lie down. “Do you need anything? Water?”</p><p>Aki shook her head and breathed slowly. “No, it’ll pass. I’m sorry, I’m not being very helpful.”</p><p>Yusei sat down on the edge of the bed next to her and put his hand on her forehead while she continued massaging her temples. “Don’t worry about that. You’re still exhausted.”</p><p>“But you’re in a hurry.”</p><p>“I don’t want to pressure you. You’ve already been through enough.” <em>Too much</em>, he corrected to himself.</p><p>Hearing that, a tragic laugh bubbled up from Aki’s chest. “You know,” she said, and Yusei could hear the tears in her fragile voice, “I always wondered if it was ok for me to live so happy and carefree like I was with Sayer. I always thought, surely I don’t deserve this. Surely I’ll get judgment for what I did. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is what I get for . . .”</p><p>Yusei didn’t hold back. He leaned over her and put both hands on her cheeks. “Don’t think like that.” Aki opened her eyes and a tear slid out of each. Her breath caught at seeing Yusei’s eyes right above hers. “The world doesn’t work like that. This didn’t happen to you because you’re a bad person or because of anything wrong you may have done. You’re not a bad person. Things you can’t control are not your fault.”</p><p>Aki’s lips trembled hard. “But it was still <em>me</em>. It was my magic. If I hadn’t been a witch, they wouldn’t have died.”</p><p>“That’s not your fault. You didn’t choose to be a witch, and you didn’t choose to kill anyone. It was just a horrible accident. You don’t deserve to suffer for it. And there’s no great force out there that’s dealing out judgments. Things are too inconsistent for that to make sense. Call it bad luck if you have to, just don’t tell yourself this is what you deserve.”</p><p>Aki sniffled, and when she blinked, more tears fell from the corner of her eyes. “I thought you’d be scared of me if I told you.”</p><p>Yusei laughed. “Weren’t you the one who said nothing scares me?”</p><p>Aki chuckled weakly. “I guess I was. But you know, I’m special.” She didn’t know how she could manage to be playful. Yusei was just irresistible that way, she supposed.</p><p>“You are,” Yusei agreed. She didn’t know what to say to that, or what to do with that kind smile he poured down on her. Even if she didn’t deserve her suffering, she had no idea how she could deserve something as good as him.</p><p>Yusei then withdrew his hands from her face. “I need to talk to Stardust,” he said. “Will you be ok by yourself for a while?”</p><p>She nodded. “Yeah. My head’s already feeling a little better.”</p><p>“Ok. I’ll just be outside, so if you need anything . . .”</p><p>She nodded again. “I got it. Thank you.”</p><p>He got up and went to the door. Honestly, Aki didn’t like to see him go. But there was a whole kingdom out there beyond the four walls of this room, and she couldn’t keep him from caring about it. And she had to remember that Stardust was out there too, and even for a dragon like him, Sayer could be a threat. If nothing else, Aki didn’t want anything to happen to <em>him</em>.</p><p>And Yusei similarly thought that he had to warn Stardust and get his opinion. He looked one more time at Aki before closing the door behind him, and he told himself he had to make sure Sayer’s damage ended here.</p>
<hr/><p>Stardust had left soon after dropping Yusei and Aki off at their destination. He liked humans in a theoretical way, but in reality he found himself more comfortable by himself than among too many of them. So it took him a little while to come back when he heard Yusei call for him.</p><p>Even after all these years, Yusei still wore the pendant Stardust had given him as a child—almost religiously. He didn’t dare take it off, not only because it was a precious gift, but because it gave him comfort to know his friend was always reachable. He just had to take it out from under his shirt and say Stardust’s name, then wait, as he did now.</p><p>He saw Stardust’s light in the dark before he could make out his shape, but he flew fast enough that once he was in sight it was a matter of seconds before he landed in the empty meadow. Yusei had a feeling some of the children who were staying up past their bedtime would notice the dragon and be looking out the window right now, but as long as they couldn’t hear anything, Yusei didn’t mind. Martha was the mother around here, not him.</p><p>“So, how are things?” Stardust asked with genuine concern.</p><p>Yusei took a deep breath and let it out slowly.</p><p>“Oh,” Stardust said before Yusei even spoke. “That doesn’t sound good.”</p><p>Yusei shook his head. “Aki told me some things. Things you need to hear.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>Yusei tried to make the story he had put together from Aki as coherent as he could and explained his conclusion about the book Sayer seemed to have. Stardust’s reaction was to involuntarily dig his talons into the dirt.</p><p>“Celestial <em>spheres</em>,” Stardust hissed. “I swore I put it somewhere more secure than this.”</p><p>“So you think it’s possible it’s that book?”</p><p>“I do, yeah. The things I’ve been feeling lately give me the impression of some big, powerful magic, and our book would definitely fit that.”</p><p>“I was hoping you might have another explanation.”</p><p>“I wish I did. But it makes sense. I don’t like it, but it makes sense.”</p><p>“If I had any idea where Sayer was, I’d say let’s go after him. But I don’t have a clue, so I’m thinking we need to go straight to Jack.”</p><p>“Yeah. I agree. And I may need to get in touch with Archfiend, especially if we don’t find Sayer before things get even worse.”</p><p>“You think he’d help?”</p><p>“If our book is involved? Yes.”</p><p>“That’s reassuring.”</p><p>“If you say so. But don’t get too much at ease. I won’t feel good about this until I get our book back.”</p><p>“Right.”</p><p>“Ok, let’s go.”</p><p>Yusei nodded and mounted quickly. As Stardust flapped his wings, launching hard into the air, the wind he created shook the windows of the house, including Aki’s, which rattled in front of her face as she stood watching the dragon take off in a great rush.</p><p>From Martha’s house, the royal city was visible in the distance, framed by the mountain range behind it. The castle was easiest to see because, by design, it was built at the top of a hill while the rest of the city coated the slopes and lower surroundings within the thick walls. From its lofty height, it was meant to inspire awe from those looking up to it, while those at the top could look down at their subjects—and fancy themselves gods in their heaven—or keep an eye out for enemies who might approach from any direction.</p><p>In the darkness, the guards in the castle towers would certainly be able to see Stardust approaching by his glow, and Yusei hoped they would announce it to either Rex or Jack before they arrived, saving them some precious time.</p><p>He had been thinking too far ahead.</p><p>Stardust dodged just in time to avoid a sudden ray of magic aimed at him from the forest below. He had sensed the energy of it in the split second before it almost grazed his wing, which didn’t make sense. Surely he would have been able to sense the source of it long before that. Both he and Yusei looked down and saw the feathered black dragon, and only then did Stardust feel the energy of its presence.</p><p>“How the hell do you do that!?” Stardust roared while swerving through the air so as to not be an easy target.</p><p>While Stardust was occupied with the dragon’s inexplicable ability to make itself undetectable, Yusei was more interested in the silver-haired rider on its back. <em>Who are you?</em> he wondered while clinging tight to Stardust, whose slippery movements jostled him.</p><p>“Guess we have to turn around now,” Stardust muttered as another bright beam came crackling past his neck and over the city walls. Leading an enemy right into Neo Domino wasn’t an option.</p><p>“There’s a clearing,” Yusei said, looking to the western forests just beyond the walls. “If we can get him to land there, maybe we can make sure he doesn’t get away again.”</p><p>“Right,” Stardust agreed, then made the bold move of darting straight toward the other dragon just as it started to screech out another blast. He circled around the green light as he drew closer, and then he rammed right into the dragon’s torso, knocking it backward and off balance. While it flapped its wings to right itself, Stardust kept flying straight—toward the clearing. When he could hover above it, he turned and launched his own bright blue blast from his open jaws. He wasn’t expecting the attack to hit, he just wanted to taunt the dragon into chasing him. While Stardust’s blue magic faded harmlessly in the distant and empty sky, the black dragon came toward him in a wide arc. Stardust spun to keep facing it and pulled back to lure to it in closer toward the clearing.</p><p>It seemed to be working, but just to be sure, Stardust pushed himself up higher with mighty thrusts of his wings. The black dragon began to follow, but when it was in range, Stardust spun himself to give his tail a strong enough momentum to strike the dragon’s face like a hammer at the end of a whip. The dragon screeched and fell, and Stardust darted down to follow him right into the clearing.</p><p>At that rate, the dragon was going to land back-first on the ground, crushing its rider. The dragon seemed aware of that too, because it spun, taking the risk of showing its rider to Stardust for the chance to land on its pincer-like legs. Stardust didn’t care either way, as long as he could catch the dragon on the ground. Stardust was about to tackle the dragon, landing right into him like a comet, but the dragon had managed to turn and face him. It didn’t have time to release another blast, but it did meet Stardust head-on.</p><p>The impact of their bodies jarred Yusei, but he kept his place on Stardust’s shoulders. From there, it was hard for him to keep track of what happened, but he could tell it involved teeth and claws, not unlike a ferocious dog fight. Stardust again used his tail like a whip and a bludgeon, while the black dragon used its prong limbs to swipe and stab. Even in the midst of vicious battle, both dragons took care to protect their riders.</p><p>Then Stardust took advantage of his human-like arms and grabbed the black dragon by its long neck and wrestled it to the ground. At that moment, the rider jumped off and dashed away without looking back. Stardust didn’t blame him, but it bothered him that the human didn’t seem to even care that his partner was in danger. Angered, Stardust snarled and drew up his magic from within his chest. When he was ready to fire, he jumped up into the air, giving the black dragon time to cover itself with its wings. Stardust’s blue light crashed against the dragon like a torrent until he ran out of breath. When he was done, the shiny, metallic feathers of the dragon’s wings were scorched and smoking.</p><p>Seeing the dragon’s weakened condition, Yusei jumped off of Stardust’s back to chase the other rider, who hadn’t gone far, only to the edge of the clearing to watch his partner take the attack alone. Yusei frowned as he pulled his sword up from the sheath on his back and spun it a few times in his hand as he approached.</p><p>“You ready to tell me who <em>the hell</em> you are?”</p><p>Stardust landed back on the ground to guard the dragon, and making no sign that he was distressed by the turn of events, the rider simply turned and ran into the forest.</p><p>“HEY!”</p><p>Yusei sprinted into a determined pursuit. He wasn’t going to let him get away again. And he knew how to run through a forest, so he would have the advantage there.</p><p>He didn’t make it to the trees.</p><p>He didn’t trip so much as something <em>grabbed</em> him by the leg, making him fall before he knew what had happened. He was quick to try to get up, but by then his sword-carrying wrist was caught as well. Then the other. His eyes went wide when he realized it was roots that were ensnaring him, bursting from the ground with precision like living traps. They wound up his legs and arms and strapped around his waist and torso, getting thicker as they grew until he was thoroughly bound in place.</p><p>He intuited what this was, and his mind made all the necessary leaps to catch up.</p><p>This was Aki’s magic. But Aki didn’t have her magic. <em>Sayer</em> had Aki’s magic. Therefore:</p><p>This was Sayer.</p><p>As Yusei struggled, the roots clamped down tighter, squeezing into his flesh, while brambles began to rise up and snake up along the roots to pinch thorns into Yusei’s skin as well. <em>Shit!</em></p><p>Then he saw a bright light fill the clearing from behind him. Despite the thorns that had climbed to his neck, and despite how it was so bright he had to shut his eyes, he turned toward it. Blinded, he couldn’t help but cry out, “STARDUST!” in the hopes that he would get a response that might help him understand what was happening.</p><p>Then the light died down, and as Yusei opened his eyes, the black dragon launched into the air. Yusei’s skin stung against the thorns as he looked up to watch it ascend higher and higher. “Stardust, go after him!” he shouted. “Don’t worry about me! Just go!”</p><p>He had raised his voice as loud as he could, but he got no response, and Stardust didn’t give chase. Yusei looked down.</p><p>“STARDUST!”</p><p>Yusei began struggling again in earnest, ignoring the deep stings and the blood running from the wounds. His friend was frozen, caught in a sphere of light with his jaws wide open and silent. Yusei could just make out the tremors in Stardust’s body as he struggled against his paralysis, but the most he could do was make his talons twitch. Yusei tugged as hard as he could to try to rip the roots out of the ground, but his efforts only made the thorns sink in deeper. He screamed in pain and frenzy, waiting for his adrenaline to give him the strength he needed.</p><p>“STARDUST!” he screamed again to encourage himself. He had to get to his friend. That sphere of light scared him. It was beautiful, swirling with misty light like breath on a winter’s morning, but disturbing. And then the light began to swirl around Stardust faster until the clearing filled with a strong, spiraling wind that blew dirt and debris up from the ground.</p><p>All the flying detritus scratched against Yusei’s face and eyes, and he had to duck his head to the side to avoid it. When he could open his eyes safely, he found himself looking at a figure standing at the edge of the clearing, opposite from where the dragon rider had run. It was a tall man draped in a thick cloak, and Yusei knew. He just <em>knew</em>. He bared his clenched teeth as he continued his futile struggle.</p><p>Sayer didn’t seem to even notice him, though if he was controlling the roots anchoring him down, then he knew Yusei was there. He just wasn’t of any concern. That stung as much as the thorns. He watched and screamed as Sayer held out a single hand toward Stardust, the glove he wore on it shining faintly. And though Yusei couldn’t see his face beneath his hood, Sayer’s eyes shone unnaturally bright.</p><p>Feeling the heat building in his chest, head, and belly, Yusei heaved out steaming breaths until he screamed, “<em>SAAYEEEER!!!</em>”</p><p>That got him one brief glance from the figure, which only confirmed what Yusei already knew. But then Sayer’s eyes flicked back to Stardust, and Yusei turned back in fear to see the state of his friend. By then, Stardust wasn’t frozen in place anymore. Instead he was slumped on the ground, as if he had lost even the energy to stand. He was moaning too, pitifully, in a way that, to Yusei, sounded like the weak gasps from a deathbed. That thought froze his burning heart, making him sick.</p><p>
  <em>“He almost killed her.”</em>
</p><p>He had said that about Aki. What if he would have to say something worse about Stardust? He didn’t understand how one witch could handle absorbing all the magic a dragon contained, but Yusei wasn’t hopeful that Sayer’s attempt would backfire. Things weren’t working in his favor so far. He had to change the odds himself.</p><p>His sword would be too bulky to use with his hands constrained as they were, but he could maneuver them around enough to pull out the dagger at his belt. Under normal circumstances, he would have been more confident in his accuracy, even from this distance, but he was stressed and had limited movement, so he filled the hole where his confidence should be with desperate hope.</p><p>Sayer wasn’t looking at him, so he used his left hand to cut through some of the roots holding his right. When he had loosened their strength enough, he took the dagger into his right hand, set his eyes on his target, and threw. With the slack he had gained, he had been able to send the dagger flying straight and true, and because Sayer wasn’t paying attention, he didn’t notice the blade until it had pierced straight through his forearm. His yelp of pain gave Yusei some small satisfaction, as did watching Sayer fold up his arm and stare in amazement at the dagger caught in the flesh of his arm, fresh blood soaking his sleeve.</p><p>Yusei hoped that would be enough, and just as he turned to check, Stardust was already sucking in air, and then he heaved out a spray of blue flames. Sayer dodged the second attack after pulling the dagger out and tossing it away with an irritated grunt. The sphere around Stardust quickly faded, the wind dying and the light dimming until it dissolved completely. When it was gone, Sayer gasped and bent over on all fours, his limbs shaking. Stardust also collapsed to the ground, and from his entire body smoke began to rise, quickly becoming so thick Yusei couldn’t see him through it.</p><p>Then the other rider reappeared, running through the clearing to Sayer’s side to help him up. Yusei strained to hear what they said to each other, but the pain lighting up his whole body and mind made it difficult to focus. The most he was able to make out was Sayer calling the dragon rider “Kiryu”.</p><p>From above, a new wind blew into the clearing, and the black dragon descended down and lowered itself enough that Kiryu and Sayer could climb onto its back.</p><p>Yusei grit it teeth. <em>No!</em></p><p>He struggled but quickly stopped. He had reached his limit. The pain was too much and he couldn’t force himself to endure more, especially so futilely.</p><p>
  <em>They can’t get away!</em>
</p><p>But they were. They were going to get away so easily, and there was nothing he could do to stop them. Then out of the blue, his mind popped with a detail that had been filed away so deep in his memory that it had taken until now for his inner librarian to find it. He heaved his breaths loudly, half growling as he bore the pain of the thorns, and when the dragon flapped its wings to lift itself from the ground, Yusei sucked in one full breath and screamed as hard as he could.</p><p>“DIVINE!!!!!!!!”</p><p>From the dragon’s back, Sayer turned to look at him. Yes, that was it. That had been the name of that young man, the one he had seen brought to face the judgment of two kings. And now Yusei was sure it was the name of the monster before him.</p><p>The black dragon continued its ascent, flapping its scorched wings despite its fatigue and wounds, until it was carrying its passenger high above the forest and out of Yusei’s sight beyond the canopy. It was then that all the roots and brambles went slack, then withered until they broke into crumbles and dry flakes that fell softly from his body. Yusei groaned with the relief of release, the thorns no longer piercing into his body. But the wounds still remained and he felt them throbbing deep in his arms, legs, and torso. But he didn’t have time to rest. He pushed himself up, pushed himself through the pain, and began to limp toward the large mass of smoke in the center of the clearing. It started to thin, and Yusei was troubled that he still couldn’t see Stardust even when he should.</p><p>He hurried, hobbling on weak legs until he was there. And instead of Stardust, the smoke had faded to reveal a young man lying on the ground, unconscious, and naked, save for the long—<em>long</em>—white hair draped lazily across his body. Yusei didn’t recognize him.</p><p>No. No, that wasn’t it. He felt the truth before his mind pulled the coherent thoughts together. The face was unfamiliar, but he did know this person.</p><p>Yusei got close enough that when he dropped to his knees, he was right next to the man and placed a hand on his bare shoulder. “Hey,” he croaked as he gave him a gentle shake—and part of him was surprised that he could actually touch him, that he was real and not an illusion. After a moment the man began to rouse and slowly opened his eyes.</p><p>Yes, he knew those eyes. Eyes gold like a king’s crown.</p><p>Though now they were centered in human whites and carried dilated pupils within. Yusei stared down into those eyes with his mouth hanging, unable to speak. The man struggled to sit up, and he craned his neck to look around, his nose wrinkled. Then he looked at Yusei and blinked several times, his whole face creased with confusion.</p><p>“Yusei . . . you’re bigger.”</p><p>Yusei shook his head. “No, I’m not.”</p><p>“Yes you <em>are</em>,” he insisted, then he pointed a finger. “Just <em>look</em> at—”</p><p>He came to a sudden halt and froze, his eyes caught by the sight of his hand. Yusei watched his face as he stared at that hand, stared as the fingers rose, wiggled, flexed, and as the wrist twisted left and right—all under his control.</p><p>He raised his other hand and looked down into his open palms. He flexed all ten fingers. Then he raised those fingers to his face and pushed against the soft flesh of the forehead, nose, cheeks, jaw, and ears he found there. From the ears the fingers trailed down some of the length of the hair, gripped a lock and pulled it in front of his eyes. He examined it by pulling it apart into single strands. Then he followed the rest of the length with his eyes and found it piled heavily across his lap and bare legs.</p><p>For a moment he just kept staring. Yusei stared too, holding his breath and waiting for the man—for Stardust—to react. But for a long, silent minute, the not-so-dragon-like dragon stared at his feet with a wide-eyed, blank expression. Then he wiggled his toes. And then he slowly turned his wide eyes back to Yusei, who braced himself in case his friend might start to panic and wail.</p><p>Instead, Stardust only had one thing to say, and it came out in a slow, lamenting groan.</p><p>“<em>Fuck</em>.”</p>
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